It seems that Fang Zhe has been traveling for more than a month, but he only came back with a few letters.
These are all routine reporting tasks.
For example, how smooth is the trip, what is the situation in Jingzhou, and what is the population of Xiazhou?
In the past ten days, not a single letter has been sent back.
When talking about Fang Zhe, Song Yang felt a little worried.
I asked Yu Ming to come over and ask him to arrange for someone to go look for it in Xiazhou.
Although Yu Ming ordered people to search, he still smiled and comforted:
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Lao Fang is bringing 500 Renaissance troops, and there are ten muskets. Those bumpkins have never seen muskets. Just hearing the sound can scare them."
"I hope nothing happens. The Xiazhou side is a bit far away after all. I'm sending a message to the third child and asking him to take a look at the situation there." Song Yang frowned.
"Yes. The third child has already sent a letter." Yu Ming nodded.
When they were discussing Fang Zhe, Fang Zhe was also talking about Song Yang and Yu Ming.
"The prince doesn't know what happened. The person who reported the news came back and said that the prince led troops to Raozhou?"
"Those two turtle grandsons who dare to provoke Jiangzhou will definitely never come back."
"I don't know when our affairs will be settled, so I'll just pack up and go back."
Fang Zhe was sitting in the Chinese army tent, drinking tea and talking nonchalantly.
In addition to Gao Junyan and Xu Lin, there are two new faces.
A thin, middle-aged man with a tall nose and small eyes, he is Zhang Wenhai, the prefect of Xiazhou.
The other middle-aged man, who is tall and round-waisted and has a dark complexion, is the guard of Xiazhou Qianqianyan.
Wan Qianyan's name sounds like he's talkative, but in fact he's a boring gourd. If you don't ask him, he basically doesn't talk much.
Xiazhou is located in the south of Shannan East Road, with Jingzhou to the east and Guizhou to the west.
It's not a wealthy place.
After the natural disaster, the remaining population of Xiazhou was only more than 40,000, and there would not be many people left in one state.
Therefore, if there is a war, many places cannot be guarded.
Fang Zhe came to Xiazhou to help Xiazhou fight the war.
What battle was fought?
Who to hit?
Fangzhou, Xiangzhou and Suizhou to the north of Xiazhou.
The three princes of the three places are all alive.
None of these three people are law-abiding people.
After the natural disaster, they immediately began to think about competing for territory.
A fight broke out among the three families, which lasted for half a year, and Xiangzhou in the middle was wiped out.
The territory was divided between Suizhou and Fangzhou.
Later, the two men fought again because of the uneven distribution of benefits.
However, the power of Suizhou was still inferior to that of Fangzhou, and the winner was determined within three months.
Suizhou was directly destroyed.
Fangzhou became the overlord of Shannan East Road.
At this time, Jingzhou and Xiazhou took refuge in Jiangzhou, actually to seek asylum.
The king of Fangzhou was a violent lord who would kill his subordinates at every turn.
This character is very similar to that of King Suzhou.
Wang Ben and Zhang Wenhai didn't want to wait for the King of Fangzhou to come to their door, so they took refuge in Jiangzhou first.
However, when the king of Fangzhou found out about this, he angrily raised troops and went south to completely capture Xiazhou and Jingzhou.
There are nearly 100,000 surviving people in Jingzhou, and Wang Ben started preparations very early.
There are 20,000 people training under him.
Although they are scattered throughout Jingzhou, defense and attack are not a problem.
There is a loophole here in Xiazhou.
With just such a small number of people, there is no way they can stop the King of Housing.
Fortunately, Fang Zhe came.
He also brought five hundred elite soldiers with him.
Five hundred people doesn't seem to be much, and an elite unit may not have many people.
Just like those two guys in Raozhou, looking at an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people, they are actually holding them hostage.
There are probably not even 500 true elites.
With these 500 more men, we can still defend with a narrowed defense.
Moreover, Fang Zhe also sent a letter to Niu Laosan, who has already led people here.
To the south of Xiazhou, across the Youjiang River, is Fengzhou.
After Niu Laosan received the letter, he immediately led three thousand Renaissance troops and two thousand Minzhuang to the north to support.
It takes at most three days to reach Yiling, the capital city of Xiazhou.
"Report!"
A school captain rushed out of the door and knelt down in front of everyone as soon as he entered.
"Report! The Fangzhou army has occupied Yuan'an. The Yuan'an defenders have lost more than a hundred people and are currently retreating to Yiling. Mr. Xu Qin, the chief secretary of Yuan'an, requested assistance."
Fang Zhe looked at Wan Qianyan and found that this guy had no intention of talking to him.
He could only ask: "Wan Shoubei, how are you preparing for the response?"
"My lord, everything is ready and ready to go at any time." Wan Qianyan said, clasping his fists.
"Then hurry up and get the people back. We'll wait for reinforcements in Yiling," Fang Zhe said.
Yuan'an is a county in the north of Yiling.
There are only three county towns left in Xiazhou, one is Yuan'an in the north, one is Bashan in the south, and the third is Yiling, the capital city.
After Fang Zhe finished speaking, Wan Qianyan looked at the prefect Zhang Wenhai standing aside.
Zhang Wenhai nodded slightly, and then Wan Qianyan stood up and said, "Don't worry, adults, I will make arrangements right now."
After saying that, he turned around and left.
The garrison and the prefect are on the same level, and the cadres do not emphasize military affairs but neglect literature.
But Wan Qianyan actually got this guard through Zhang Wenhai's relationship, so he was so polite to him.
Wan Qianyan went out and arranged for Fang Zhe to look at Gao Junyan and ask: "Master Gao, what's the situation over there in Jingzhou? Can it be defended? If there is a problem, we have to mobilize troops from Fengzhou or Yuezhou as soon as possible."
Gao Junyan shook his head and said: "It's okay, Wang Ben can hold on there, and yesterday he repelled a wave of probing attacks by Fangzhou soldiers."
"Fangzhou has been fighting for more than half a year, and there is not much fighting force left."
"We should not use troops against two states at the same time. It is estimated that the main force should be in our Xiazhou, and there must be suspicious troops in Jingzhou."
Gao Junyan analyzed it, and both Fang Zhe and Zhang Wenhai agreed.
King Fangzhou has about 20,000 men, including 3,000 to 4,000 elite men.
Most of them in Jingzhou are miscellaneous soldiers.
In addition to the 500 revival troops in Xiazhou, there are only 1,600 local soldiers, and 600 are left in Yuan'an.
This time we lost dozens more.
However, there is still some Minzhuang, and it is no problem to stay in Xiazhou for three to five days.
As long as Niu Laosan arrives in time, all problems can be solved.
"The third child will arrive the day after tomorrow at the latest, and Fangzhou soldiers will almost come over the day after tomorrow."
"Let's lay it out and get it settled in Yiling."
"After the war, we have to go to Fangzhou to clean up the mess. We can't go back until everything is tidied up. Alas! It's so busy!"
Fang Zhe said shaking his head.
He didn't pay much attention to Fangzhou's attack.
There are city defenses and reinforcements, so the suspense of the battle is not great.
But if you defeat King Fangzhou, you have to take over King Fangzhou’s territory.
King Fangzhou had already annexed Suizhou and Xiangzhou.
Now it is the land of three states.
How long will this work take?
"Why don't Master Gao stay in Fangzhou?" He looked at Gao Junyan with emotion.
Fangzhou is not as good as Jiangzhou. Gao Junyan is not willing to stay.
After listening to Fang Zhe's words, Gao Junyan hurriedly shook his head and said:
"No, no, no, no. I want to go back early to listen to the prince's teachings."
Fang Zhe pouted, no one wants to come to this place, everyone wants to stay in Jiangzhou.
"This matter needs to be reported to the prince. Let the prince decide everything." Fang Zhe curled his lips and said.
Regarding the handling of Fangzhou, Zhang Wenhai, the magistrate of Xiazhou, actually had nothing to say.
Although he also wanted to share some benefits, he still had to rely on Song Yang's troops to fight this battle.
As an official in Xiazhou, he can't take care of Fangzhou's affairs.
"Xu Lin, I'll leave it to you to contact the third child. I don't know the specific details of the war, so you can just handle it." Fang Zhe turned to look at Xu Lin.
After saying that, he said to Zhang Wenhai: "Master Zhang and Wan Shou have to worry about the military affairs in Xiazhou."
"Don't dare! It's your duty, your duty!" Zhang Wenhai waved his hands hurriedly.
In any case, the takeover of Fangzhou will happen later.
The immediate priority now is to defeat King Fangzhou first.
The command of Xiazhou is still in Wan Qianyan's hands.
Xu Lin only cares about his five hundred revival troops.
Fang Zhe did not let Xu Lin seize the command of Xiazhou.
Each place has its own situation. Xu Lin's 500 Renaissance Army may not be able to command the local troops in Xiazhou.
Therefore, Fang Zhe does not interfere too much in Xiazhou's military affairs. As long as he can withstand Yiling City, Fang Zhe is relieved.
In the afternoon, Xu Lin contacted Niu Laosan, confirmed the arrival time, and discussed tactics.
Then I checked with Wan Qianyan again, and now I'm waiting for King Fangzhou to throw himself into the trap.
Chief Yuan'an and the troops who had withdrawn had already joined the troops sent by Wan Qianyan to meet him.
Although he lost the battle with King Fangzhou, Xu Qin also basically understood the strength and level of King Fangzhou.
"Xu Qin, Chief Registrar of Yuan'an, is here to pay my respects to all of you."
Xu Qin went all the way to Yiling.
"My lords, Fangzhou Army..."
Xu Qin gave a detailed account of the battle between himself and the Fangzhou Army in the past few days.
To sum it up, it can be summed up in eight big words: great momentum, weak combat power.
According to Xu Qin, if the county seat of Yuan'an was not destroyed by natural disasters, the King of Fangzhou would not even be able to capture Yuan'an County.
They didn't have many siege engines.
Yiling is a prefectural city. Although the city defenses were severely damaged, after more than half a year of repairs, it is actually relatively strong.
When entering the city, Xu Qin took a special look at the city defenses and felt that it would not be a big problem to resist the attack of King Fangzhou.
Of course, Yiling has few soldiers, so there is no guarantee that there will be any defense loopholes if it continues for a long time.
Xu Qin said it in great detail and also had some of his own thoughts and judgments.
It can be seen that he is a very good and capable official.
"This Xu Qin is good and can be promoted." Fang Zhe looked at Zhang Wenhai and said with a smile.
After Xu Qin finished speaking, he resigned and took a rest. After retreating with his troops for three days, he was already exhausted.
"Yes. I understand, I will speak to the prince after the war is over." Zhang Wenhai also nodded.
"The prince has given you Xiazhou autonomy, you can just decide on the appointment yourself." Fang Zhe said with a smile.