In the city, Xie Cheng hung up the map of North China and said to Lu Yuan, Luo Ren, Chief Su and others: "Now that Jinan City is in our hands, the next step is to think about further development.? ≠"
Luo Ren said: "General Xie, what should we do next?"
Xie Cheng asked, "What do you think?"
Luo Ren thought for a moment and said: "We should attack Yanzhou Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, and Dezhou immediately."
Chief Su said at this time: "Why not attack the second Denglai mansion first to relieve your worries?"
Luo Ren said: "Denglai Second Prefecture is blocked from other places, and although there are many guard posts, many of them are naval forces. In fact, there is not much room to attack Qingzhou. Denglai Second Prefecture has few people, so there is no need to pay too much attention."
"But Yanzhou Prefecture and other places are different. Dongchang Prefecture is adjacent to Daming Prefecture to the west, and to the southwest is Kaifeng Prefecture; Dezhou is adjacent to Hejian Prefecture; and to the south of Yanzhou Prefecture is Jianghuai Province and adjacent to Zhili."
"If the imperial court sends troops to quell the rebellion, the biggest advantage of the imperial court compared with us is that it has more troops and generals. If it is just limited to marching troops along the way, the terrain in the east, west and south of Shandong is complicated, and the army may not be able to deploy, so it will be difficult to deploy the imperial troops. There are so many again.”
"So the imperial court cannot only send troops all the way from the south. It must be a multi-pronged attack. It is likely to come from the west, north and south. Then the above three places are very important."
Xie Cheng said: "Luo Ren is right. Denglai Second Mansion is geographically remote and has a small population. Capturing it will not increase our strength much. On the contrary, it will delay time because it is surrounded by sea on three sides and is difficult to capture. So there is no need for more Notice."
"The positions of Yanzhou and other places are more important, so we must send troops to attack immediately. Especially Yanzhou Prefecture, which is the only way from the south to Shandong, must be captured immediately!"
As early as mid-August, when the army of the three guards of the former King of Qi attacked eastward, Laizhou Prefecture, which was close to Qingzhou Prefecture, realized that there was a rebellion, probably by the King of Qi, and immediately sent a ship to report to the capital.
However, their ship was not the first to arrive in the capital. Qingzhou soldiers attacked Muling Pass. Although the gatekeepers were unprepared for them and lost Muling Pass, some people took advantage of the chaos and escaped, and on August 20 On the third day, he fled to the front post of Xiahe Village.
Xiahe Village quickly sent a ship to the capital to report the news, and arrived in the capital on the first day of September.
Those who received the report did not dare to neglect, and immediately reported the report to Yunxi.
Yunxu was stunned when he learned the news. Why did Zhushu not rebel when he dethroned King Zhushu of Qi in his previous life, but now he rebelled?
Yunxi thought about it for himself, probably because he had been completely deprived of power when Yunwen dethroned Zhu Shu as King of Qi, so there was no possibility of rebellion. It may not be that he didn't want to rebel.
But this is not important. What is important is to put down this rebellion.
Yunxi didn't pay much attention to it at first, and ordered Jia Xie to become General Pingdong to take charge of countering the rebellion. As Xie Cheng was a veteran general, and the other guards in Shandong had more soldiers than the three guards of King Qi, he should be able to put down the rebellion.
But what happened next left Yunxi stunned. On September 16, an urgent report came from Jinan Prefecture, and the army led by Xie Cheng was defeated!
Yunxi was stunned for a while, then read the memorial over and over again, and then noticed that Zhang Shen, the governor of Shandong Province, and others suspected that Xie Cheng had rebelled.
Yunxi was also puzzled as to why Xie Cheng rebelled, but he could finally explain why he lost the battle.
But the most important thing is that with Xie Cheng's rebellion, the situation in Shandong will inevitably be in ruins. Jinan may have already fallen by the time he receives the memorial. Yunxi likes to prepare for the worst in everything, although on the surface he has always been Don't behave like this.
Yunxi immediately called Cao Zhen, Guo Ying, Geng Bingwen and others who were in Beijing. Together with Zhang Wen, who was already serving as the auxiliary officer of Chun, all the most experienced generals left in the early years of the Ming Dynasty were called to the palace. inside.
Except for Zhang Wen, who already knew about the incident when Yunxi received the memorial, the other three did not know about it because the memorial was delivered directly from the ferry to Yunxi.
They were also surprised when they heard what Yunxi said, but they immediately returned to normal. They were all people who had experienced Zhu Wenzheng's intention to rebel, so they could accept it quickly.
Yunxi asked: "How many troops do you think we need to send to quell this rebellion?" Yunxi didn't talk nonsense and asked important questions.
After several people thought about it for a while, Cao Zhen said: "Your Majesty, do you want to put down the rebellion as quickly as possible, or at the minimum cost?"
Yunxi immediately said: "The people of Shandong are in the hands of the rebels for one more day, and I can't sleep or eat well. I want to put down the rebellion as quickly as possible!"
Since Yunxi had expressed his attitude, they began to plan according to Yunxi's ideas. Because Xie Cheng of Shandong rebelled this time, and Xie Cheng was also a hero who stayed from the Hongwu period, but he was less capable, so his credit was smaller and he was not granted a title. Just a prince.
So they all felt embarrassed, fearing that Yunxi would doubt them and not speak directly. Only Cao Zhen's second son had a princess, so he didn't have to estimate so much.
So Cao Zhen said: "Your Majesty, there are about 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers in the Shandong garrison, not counting the soldiers of Denglai Second Prefecture, and the three guards of King Lu of Yanzhou Prefecture. Among them, they fought continuously, and the number of casualties was at least 10,000. The above, coupled with the fact that those who clearly showed their unwillingness to follow the rebellion were killed, the rebel army can only command a maximum of 60,000 soldiers."
"However, they are all local soldiers from Shandong and are familiar with the terrain. If Xie becomes the commander-in-chief, he will not easily reveal his flaws."
"So if we want to put down the rebels in Shandong as soon as possible, we can mobilize an army of 150,000 from the capital area, and then recruit soldiers from the Xuzhou Guard, Zhou Wang's Three Guards, Daming Guard and other guards near Shandong. A total of 200,000 troops can be mobilized."
"Two hundred thousand people." Yunxi muttered for a moment, and then said firmly: "Two hundred thousand is two hundred thousand! Now that the autumn harvest is over, and the weather is not too cold, we can quickly recruit the garrison stations near the capital for combat. "
Then Yunxi thought for a while and said: "Cao Aiqing, I will take you as the commander of this army."
Zhang Wen and others present did not look surprised at all. Since Yunxi was pursuing the fastest solution, the general commanding the army must be the most senior general among them.
Among them, it's hard to say who is more capable, but Cao Zhen's son, Princess Shang, or Yunxi's biological sister, is naturally the most trustworthy.
Yunxi continued: "As for the other generals under you, especially the candidates for the vanguard, I haven't made a decision yet. Let me think about it again."
"In addition, Cao Aiqing, although you actually command this army, you can only be the deputy commander, and the commander is someone else. However, I will ask the commander not to interfere with your command."
