Seeing that Zhang Ping agreed to this matter, Han Qian personally introduced to Zhang Ping and Gao Shao the situation in Xuanzhou in the south and Liyang and Jintan counties in the east in the past two days:
"Currently there is news that King Xin is only recruiting strong slaves from Dantu, Jingkou, and Danyang counties. It has not affected the four counties of Jintan, Liyang, Linjin, and Yangyang. However, these four counties and the northern shore of Taihu Lake in the east
The townships and tribes in Changzhou and Suzhou counties will definitely feel the pressure soon. The Chuzhou army has a slightly sufficient force on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and they will not rush into a decisive battle with Anning Palace. I think they may go east to control Changzhou and Suzhou first.
, to ensure that its food and grain are safe, and at the same time, it can search for Su Runchang's ships in the three states and expand its navy. Before this, the naval force commanded by Yang Jian was always a threat to it..."
"Master Han seemed to be more worried that the Chuzhou Army would divide its troops and go south, entering between Jieling Mountain and Fuyu Mountain, blocking the Chishan Army's eastward advance?" Zhang Ping said with some confusion.
"I did have this worry before," Han Qian said. "When I recruited slaves to join the army in Maoshan, what I encountered was the opposition of local forces, which greatly disturbed the villagers east and south of Maoshan. If
The Chuzhou Army was not in a hurry to expand its troops at this time, and even gave up the confrontation with An Ning Palace at the southern foot of Baohua Mountain, and retracted the 30,000 elite forward troops from Jingshan Nunnery to Dantu, Danyang and other places, ordering the Nanya Forbidden Army and Shouzhou
The army can free up their hands to pinch us from the west. At the same time, they can also send more elite soldiers and horses to go south; and they can use the fear and hatred of the local forces towards us to form an alliance between Jieling Mountain and Fuyu Mountain.
The strength of the defense - this is what troubles me the most. Fortunately, King Xin is not patient enough, and he is not the kind of person who is willing to give up the initiative temporarily and wait for the opportunity. Now the Chuzhou Army is recruiting strong slaves at Jingkou
, judging from their measures, they seem to be more relaxed than ours, but the Chuzhou army is so large that the local forces are also deeply afraid of them. If they immediately divide their troops on a large scale and go south at this time, it will make me less worried...
"
Zhang Ping thought about it. The Chuzhou army was dividing its troops and heading south at this time. It could not gain the trust of the local soldiers and horses in Xuanzhou and Huzhou. It would even strengthen the taboos of the local soldiers and horses in these two places, which would put the southern front into a more subtle containment.
Among them, it may not necessarily be detrimental to the Chishan Army.
In this case, the Chuzhou Army would give priority to strengthening its control over the Taihu Beibin Plain, where the situation is much simpler and grain resources are more abundant.
As a result, the Chishan Army could get some breathing time, but the problem is that this time may only be a month or two. Thinking of how complicated and shocking every subsequent step was, Zhang Ping couldn't help but sigh: "It's a shame that you dare to do this in this way."
Move the pieces on the chessboard."
"You have to take a step back into the abyss, and you can't stop playing chess. You can only bite the bullet and make moves wherever you go." Han Qian said with a calm smile.
At present, in addition to the Chuzhou Army in the east, the local troops in Xuanzhou in the south, Huzhou, Xiuzhou, Hangzhou in the southeast, and even Yuezhou, Mingzhou and other forces further away, the Chishan Army needs to make comprehensive considerations at this time.
the elements of.
The sand table is inconvenient to move. The old sand table is left in the courtyard at the northern foot of Maoshan Mountain. The new sand table has not been made yet. In the past two days, a topographic map has been painted beyond recognition by Han Qian with charcoal. I don’t know what Han Qian did in this work.
How many times have the terrain maps been deduced?
As the military supervisor, Zhang Ping does not need to bear too much responsibility, but he is still very clear about the situation facing the Chishan Army.
In the early years of the founding of the Chu Kingdom, the war in the east of the Yangtze River lasted until the eighth year of God's blessing. On the one hand, the prefectures and counties in the east of the Yangtze River had nearly ten years of rest and recuperation.
The military potential has not yet been corroded or weakened by a longer-term comfortable life.
In addition, many of the chief officials such as governors, chief officials, Sima, county magistrates, county lieutenants, and county magistrates in the counties in Jiangdong were generals from local aristocratic families.
This was a compromise made by Emperor Tianyou in order to quickly stabilize the situation in the states and counties in the east of the Yangtze River. It was also related to the fact that after the civil servant selection system of the previous dynasty was destroyed, Da Chu had not been able to establish an effective civil servant selection system in time for so many years since the founding of the country.
Gu Zhilong, the governor of Xuanzhou, was a senior general at the level of Yuhou, the capital of Shengzhou Jiedushi in his early years.
Emperor Tianyou led the Huainan army to cross the river. He immediately led his troops to surrender, and later led his troops to participate in many wars against the Yue King Dong Chang, and made great achievements.
After pacifying the Yue King Dong Chang, he once served in the Yongjia Jiedushi Mansion in southern Zhejiang to defend the Wuling Army. In the eleventh year of God's Blessing, Emperor Tianyou reduced the garrison of the Yongjia Jiedushi Mansion. In addition to hundreds of soldiers, Gu Zhilong had no other troops.
They were all put into the Nanya Forbidden Camp, and he himself was transferred from the Yongjia Jiedu Envoy and went to Xuanzhou to serve as governor until now.
Huang Hua, the governor of Huzhou, was originally a general under the command of King Dong Chang of Yue. When Emperor Tianyou and the main force of King Dong Chang of Yue fought a fierce battle in Runzhou, Huang Hua led his troops to guard Liyang. He took a look at the Chu army guarding Maoshan and Lishui at that time, and built Wenmu Bridge.
He said he would surrender and surrendered the city to Chu, making great contributions to Chu State in defeating the Yue King Dong Chang in the eastern part of Runzhou.
After the battle of Runzhou, Huang Hua surrendered his troops and horses, and then served successively as the governor of Xiuzhou and Huzhou.
Except for Zhou Bingwu, the governor of Yongjia who commanded 10,000 elite imperial guards in southern Zhejiang to defend the Wuwei Army in the south, the governors of Hangzhou, Yuezhou, Mingzhou, Xiuzhou, Taizhou, Quzhou and other Jiangdong states almost all had similar experiences.
Almost each of these provincial governors has an elite tribe ranging from hundreds to four to five hundred, as well as their own relatives and family soldiers, plus the lower class members who are controlled by them and have a larger number of people.
Slaves are a group of as few as one or two thousand people, and as many as three to five thousand people.
The situation in the DPRK and China was stable, and the governors of these states were all well-behaved, obedient, and showed no dissent at all. However, when the situation became turbulent and the central government's control over the local areas was weakened, the governors of these states used the power they directly controlled, and
It is easy for private elite military units to directly control local state troops.
Then, by colluding more closely with the local aristocratic families, the troops under their control can quickly expand.
This was the situation in the previous dynasty when warriors were in power in the later years and there were many heroes. However, even after the founding of the Chu Kingdom for more than ten years, this situation could not be fundamentally changed.
This is also the fundamental reason why Zhang Ping is worried about Yueyang's excessive reliance on the Zheng family and the Xinchang Hou Mansion, and the fact that Xinchang Hou Li Pu recruited various families in Lishui and allowed them to directly command private soldiers. In this case, even if the third prince
Although he won in the end, it actually did not fundamentally change the current situation of Dachu.
The reality is that after the Jinling Incident, Gu Zhilong, the governor of Xuanzhou, recruited troops based on the Xuanzhou soldiers and expanded the Xuanzhou soldiers from the initial 3,000 to 8,000 or 9,000 in a short period of time.
Gu Zhidong originally wanted to make a choice after the Chuzhou Army and An Ning Palace fought for victory, but he never thought that the Chishan Army would emerge out of nowhere.
This time, the Chishan Army's invasion of Shangjia Fort was a great victory, but it disturbed the Xiang family. Zhang Ping believed that this would make it more convenient and easier for Gu Zhilong to recruit soldiers and horses from the local Xiang family in Xuanzhou.
Han Qian's next words also confirmed Zhang Ping's guess: "Gu Zhilong, the governor of Xuanzhou, originally stationed his troops in Xuancheng to observe the situation. After we captured Shangjiabao, the rural families in northern Xuanzhou were frightened by the news and headed south like a frightened bird.
Escape makes it easier for Gu Zhilong to recruit troops. The garrison of Langxi and Xuancheng to the south of Fushan should increase to about 6,000 this morning."
"So many soldiers and horses?" Gao Shao asked in shock.
Xuancheng is further south, located in the middle of the trumpet-shaped terrain formed by Fuyu Mountain and Yishan Mountain. As the seat of Xuanzhou's state government, it is understandable that there are more troops stationed there, but Langxi is located at Fuyu Mountain.
At the northwest foot of the city, it could block the attack on Xuancheng from the south, and block the passage to Huzhou from the east. It was somewhat unimaginable to Gao Shao that even the garrison at Langxi now exceeded 6,000?
"Xuanzhou means Xuancheng, and the two cities of Langxi are exposed, but the location of Langxi is more critical. In other words, I would arrange all the main troops to Langxi," Han Qian said, "Gu Zhilong is in Xuancheng now.
The even distribution of troops between Langxi and Xi shows that he only wants to defend these two crucial nodes in northern Xuanzhou at this time, and has no intention of leading his troops out of the city to take advantage of our Chishan Army."
Zhang Ping nodded, evenly distributing troops seemed to be the safest strategy, but it was also the most conservative strategy.
Gu Zhilong is conservative, which is somewhat good news for them.
Gu Zhilong will probably only defend Langxi City and block the Chishan Army from entering Xuanzhou, but will not send troops out of Langxi City to block the Chishan Army's route from the north of Langxi City to enter Huzhou eastward.
"Gu Zhilong's approach is a bit beggar-thy-neighbour. He only wants to keep us out of Xuanzhou, but doesn't care about the huge floods in Huzhou!" Gao Shao frowned and said, "What's the reaction from Huzhou Huanghua?"
"Since we formed the Chishan Army in Maoshan and recruited slaves to join the army, Huang Hua seemed to have expected that we would march eastward. At that time, in addition to recruiting soldiers and horses in Huzhou, he also sent his children back to Xiuzhou, where the Huang family has deeper roots, to recruit soldiers from the hometown.
Go to Huzhou!" Han Qian said, "Although it has only been two days and there is no direct news from Huzhou, which responded a little later, but I think that after we move into Huzhou, we will probably have to take a bite of this.
Iron plate!"
Zhang Ping and Gao Shao both felt that Gu Zhilong was pursuing the beggar-thy-neighbor idea, and Huzhou Huanghua was even more difficult to deal with. Only then did they realize that even if the Chuzhou Army would not send further troops southward for the time being, the Chishan Army would face a short period of time on the south wing and on the east wing.
The military pressure will only increase, not weaken at all.
At this time, if Li Pu could hold on to the situation on the northwest wing, they would have to pinch their noses and tolerate him for a while.
Han Qian said to Gao Shao again: "You can't rest even when you come back. When the sun sets a little and it's not so vicious, you will lead two battalions of soldiers to Nantang Port. The squire Lihao of Nantang Port will bring his family to Nantang Port."
Escape, there are currently a dozen scouts guarding there, you lead your troops there, build a stronghold, and if possible, control the western foot of Jieling Mountain before the Chuzhou Army marches south..."
"How about two days?" Gao Shao asked doubtfully.
Although it is speculated that the Chuzhou Army and Xuanzhou Governor Gu Zhilong have chosen a relatively conservative stance towards the Chishan Army during this period, it does not mean that they will not pounce on the Chishan Army if they really show their fatigue and reveal their flaws.
Therefore, the Chishan Army still has to maintain a ferocious posture and show its fangs and claws.
Although Gao Shao understood this truth, he had just led two battalions of troops to withdraw from Lishui. Unexpectedly, he could only rest for one noon before he had to bypass Donglu Mountain and advance from the east flank to the southeast.
"Soldiers are valuable and quick. The more resolute we advance, the more hesitant the enemy will be to react..." Han Qian said without any doubt.
Zhang Ping also feels that it is unrealistic to storm Langxi City or Liyang City at present, so he needs to select one or two key points in the southeast of Donglu Mountain and west of Jieling Mountain, select villages abandoned by aristocratic families to consolidate, and use some elite troops to
They were stationed there in an attempt to deter Xuanzhou troops from marching north and Chuzhou troops from marching southward, but they had to give the generals a break.
However, seeing Han Qian's firm look on his face, he thought that his plans had not failed yet, and he secretly felt that in Han Qian's eyes, the situation was still too urgent to allow him to take a breath...