When the bandit soldiers and horses from Tanzhou embarked on the journey to Yuzhang.
After traveling all day and night, Shen Dan finally arrived in Ruichang.
Starting from Tonggu, we went all the way north to Yuning, and then entered Jiangzhou, which is Yinanji.
The village chief of Yinanji gave them directions and rushed straight to Ruichang.
"Here from Hongzhou? The Tanzhou rebels came to Hongzhou?"
Chen Fu, who was working in the fields, met Shen Dan and his party directly outside the city.
"Yes! They attacked Hongzhou from Tanzhou, and now Tonggu has fallen! They will probably attack Yuzhang!"
Shen Dan said with red eyes.
He has not rested all day and night.
"Prepare your horses! I am going to Jiangzhou!"
Chen Fu was also anxious. Hongzhou was in danger and Jiangzhou was in danger.
So he immediately prepared his horse and personally took Shen Dan to Jiangzhou Fucheng.
At noon that day, the group finally arrived at Jiangzhou Fucheng.
After hearing the news, Song Yang hurriedly returned from the busy fields.
"Your Majesty! I am in charge of Shen Dan, and there are hundreds of households in Tonggu. Tonggu has fallen, and the thieves are threatening Yuzhang. The king of Hongzhou specially ordered me to come and inform you."
Shen Dan kept up his nerves and reported the situation of the bronze drum to Song Yang.
He told the story in detail, including when the bandits came, how long they had been beating the bronze drum, and how they captured the bronze drum.
"How is that boy from Song Ying?" After listening to the report, Song Tong asked at the side.
"You are...the King of Tanzhou?"
"I have seen the prince thousand years old in my humble position!"
Shen Dan didn't pay attention to Song Tong just now. He didn't expect that Song Tong would come to Jiangzhou.
I originally thought that Song Tong died at the hands of thieves.
"My prince has returned to Yuzhang, but the thieves are very powerful and may attack Yuzhang."
Shen Dan answered truthfully.
"How many defenders are there in Yuzhang?" Song Yang asked with a frown.
"This...if the defeated troops that were originally defeated can gather three to five thousand, there will still be three to five thousand in Yuzhang City, which is worthy of ten thousand people."
"These people are untrained civilians? How many guards are there?"
"Most of them have not been trained. There are only a hundred people in the Guards."
As he asked and answered questions, Song Yang had already noticed something was wrong.
At this level, the previous ten thousand fell in a battle with the thieves.
Even if there are less than 10,000 left, even relying on the defense of Yuzhang City, they will not be able to hold out for a few days.
After all, the current city wall is full of holes.
"You go and rest first, and we will discuss countermeasures as soon as possible. Don't worry, I will definitely protect Hongzhou!"
Song Yang patted Shen Dan on the shoulder. He could tell that the man was almost exhausted. The red bloodshot eyes clearly showed that he was overworked from running all the way.
"Thank you for your humble position, Your Majesty!" Shen Dan thanked him and left obediently.
As soon as he left, Song Yang immediately summoned all officials to discuss sending troops.
Hongzhou must be preserved, because to the south of Hongzhou is Yuanzhou, where there is the Pingxiang Coal Mine!
Tanzhou has been lost, and we currently do not have the strength to expedition to Hongzhou, so we can only consider Hongzhou for coal transportation.
On this point, Hongzhou cannot be lost.
Song Yang first emphasized the importance of Hongzhou, and then asked about the strategy of sending troops.
Everyone is no longer surprised as to why Song Yang knew about the mine in Pingxiang.
They were only responsible for stopping the rebels and even driving them out of Hongzhou.
Song Yang looked at the crowd and asked: "How is our military strength in Jiangzhou now? Who is willing to go out?"
Yu Ming immediately raised his hand and spoke: "Your Majesty, counting the new recruits that have been expanded during this period, the number of the Renaissance Army that can be mobilized is about 5,000. As for Minzhuang, there are at least 5,000 people."
Yu Ming was in charge of Jiangzhou's military affairs and knew Jiangzhou's military strength well.
The rule set before was that the Fuxing Army should be composed of one-tenth of the population.
Later, as the number of refugees continued to increase, the Renaissance Army also began to increase.
In addition, the previous incident in Yuezhou made Song Yang wary, so the original proportion of 10% of the Renaissance Army was adjusted to 15%.
This brings the number of the Renaissance Army in Jiangzhou Fucheng alone to nearly 2,000.
Coupled with the Renaissance armies from the three nearby counties of De'an, Ruichang and Duchang, it is not a problem to assemble a team of 5,000 people.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to lead the troops there. With three thousand revival troops and two thousand people, I am confident that I can drive the traitors out of Hongzhou!"
Yu Ming was the first to express his stance.
Troops must be sent, the remaining questions are how and who to send.
"Xiaguan suggested taking the water route and entering Yuzhang from the Gan River. This can stop the bandits from attacking Yuzhang along the Gan River." Ma Cheng said, pointing to the Gan River on the map.
It takes three days to go from Jiangzhou to Yuzhang by land via De'an and Jianchang, while by water it takes three and a half days to go from Poyang Lake into the Ganjiang River to Yuzhang.
Of course, no matter how you go, you should be able to catch up.
According to Shen Dan, Tonggu was defeated the day before yesterday and they came out yesterday morning.
Even if the thieves marched into Yuzhang yesterday afternoon, it would still take five and a half days for the whole group to travel, not to mention the fact that they were still unfamiliar with the road conditions.
As long as Jiangzhou can send troops tomorrow, we can reach Yuzhang before the rebels.
So in terms of time, there is still plenty of time.
"How about a two-pronged approach and fight to repel them in one battle!"
This is the opinion of Tanzhou Wang Songtong, although he knows that the Jiangzhou Renaissance Army has some strength.
But having the experience of being punished by thieves, King Tanzhou was still a little worried.
"My lord, if we use thunder and explosives, we might be able to wipe out all the thieves!" Fang Zhe said.
Song Yang shook his head: "It is impossible to replicate the same thing again. After what happened last time, the effect of Hongtianlei will be greatly reduced."
"As for explosives, they can be used for a while. For now, they should be a better attack method."
"But sending more than five thousand troops at a time... will affect the autumn harvest."
Song Yang frowned and sent troops to reinforce Hongzhou. Now he still faced a problem with the autumn harvest.
There was already a shortage of manpower, so 51,000 strong men were taken away to fight the war.
The autumn harvest work will be slowed down a lot.
"Why don't we send a few fewer people first to help King Hongzhou defend Yuzhang, and wait until the autumn harvest is over to use troops for the overall situation?" Gao Junyan tried to suggest.
"Although it is a solution, this way everything west of Hongzhou may fall into the hands of thieves." Yu Ming shook his head.
"Your Majesty, Master Yu is right. If the thieves occupy the west of Yuzhang and destroy or take away the food, even if Hongzhou does not lose it now, it will be difficult to support it next year." Ma Cheng also agreed.
Both he and Yu Ming insisted on using troops.
After hearing what they said, there were basically no objections.
Fang Zhe looked at Song Yang and said: "Your Majesty, the autumn harvest can be postponed. The weather this year is good. There has been no rain during this period. Maybe after the war, we will come back for the autumn harvest. And the food harvested so far It’s enough to last until next autumn’s harvest.”
He knew that what Song Yang was most worried about was the autumn harvest, and sending troops and the autumn harvest became a dilemma.
After more than ten days of work, Jiangzhou's crops have been harvested by about 40%.
A full two hundred thousand stones!
There are currently 100,000 people in Jiangzhou, enough to last a year.
Moreover, even if we take away 5,000 elite soldiers and lag behind the progress, we can still collect about 100,000 dan of food in half a month.
Song Yang weighed the options and finally decided: "Fucheng will send out three thousand Fuxing troops and one thousand people strong. De'an and Duchang will each send out five hundred Fuxing troops and five hundred people strong."
"Four thousand Renaissance troops and two thousand strong people will go to Yuzhang by water to meet the enemy!"
"The navy has five hundred people, mainly responsible for coordinating transportation and naval warfare."
"Wang Dabiao also followed and tried his best to make bombs."
"Inform Wang Ran that at least two thousand Renaissance troops have been assembled in Ezhou, and they will go south from Yangxin, Tongcheng, to assist Yuning, and divide the Ning front line, creating a situation of going south to attack the bandits."
"This battle does not require the annihilation of many enemies. Our primary goal is to preserve our own strength and drive the thieves back to Tanzhou. Tell Wang Ran, there is no need to fight with all your strength, just hang on and fight!"
The meeting was efficient and fast, and the results were discussed in less than an hour.
The method of warfare was proposed by Song Yang and improved by the generals.
There is no need to debate who will lead the army this time, because Song Yang will fight in person.
"That Yuzhang man is my uncle after all. It would be better for me to go there in person." Song Yang looked at the crowd and said.
He had said so, and no one could compete with him. They could only express their willingness to follow Song Yang on the expedition.
The final followers were Yu Ming, Ma Cheng, and Wang Dabiao.
"A Yang, Uncle Qi also wants to take a look." Tanzhou Wang Songtong said.
"Uncle Qi also wants to go? Then...okay." Song Yang agreed after thinking for a moment.
He and King Hongzhou are just relatives, and their relationship is not too close, otherwise they would not have been out of contact for so long.
The seventh uncle has more connections with King Hongzhou, and his biological relationship is closer than that of Song Yang. They are cousins.
It might be easier to communicate with the King of Hongzhou if we take Uncle Qi with us.
After the matter of sending troops was discussed, the relevant personnel immediately took action.
Deploy troops when they need to, and prepare when they need to prepare.
Jiangzhou immediately began efficient preparations for war.
"Your Majesty, our things have been loaded on the ship!"
In the evening, the first person who came to report to Song Yang was Wang Dabiao.
The only things this guy needs to prepare are a few boxes of explosives and thunderbolts, so it shouldn't be too easy to pack them up.
As for the materials for making Thunderbolts, there is no need to bring them this time. Sufficient bombs and Thunderbolts have been produced during this period.
As soon as Song Yang's order came, he hurriedly packed the things.
"Watch your things and don't let any accidents happen!"
Song Yang rolled his eyes at Wang Dabiao and drove him away.
After that, Yu Ming and Ma Cheng came over to report and prepare the situation.
By the end of the night, all supplies had been shipped.
The expedition team has also been notified and will be able to gather and set off tomorrow morning.
"Your Majesty! Xiaoqian wants to go too!"
At night, Tong Qian nestled in Song Yang's arms, but Song Yang shook his head and said:
"This time I am going to fight the bandits. It will be inconvenient for you to take me with you. Xiaoqian will be obedient and stay at home."
In the last battle of Yuezhou, Song Yang already knew that the bandit troops had withdrawn, and the remaining participating troops launched a surprise attack on Lin Yong.
Their army had the absolute strength to crush the enemy when they went on an expedition, so they took Tong Qian with them along the way.
This time it was different. Shen Dan said that the thieves should come with their main force this time.
Song Yang didn't dare to take Tong Qian on an adventure.
Of course, in order to compensate Tong Qian, Song Yang did not forget to kill her with a stick...