Gao Yigong spread out the map of Suizhou that the intruders had captured in the Yamen of the prefecture and spread it flat on the table. The map mainly focused on the territory of Suizhou, but also drew De'an Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, Chengtian Prefecture, and Huangzhou Prefecture.
The terrain closer to the state capital is just not as detailed as Suizhou.
Everyone gathered around and pointed at the map to argue. Hao Yaoqi believed that since Guo Junzhen had gained something from the Dabie Mountains, the army should invest more force and arm all the official and gentry cottages in the Dabie Mountains as soon as possible.
After pacification, they expanded to the Xinyang area.
However, this approach is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the Dabie Mountains themselves are not a wealthy place. The final harvest will certainly not be too high, and Li Laiheng himself has little intention of returning to Henan.
Gao Yigong focused on the purpose of expanding the financial resources of the Huguang army as soon as possible, and believed that if he marched eastward from Yingshan County, broke through Jinshan Pass and captured Huang'an, Macheng and other counties in Huangzhou Prefecture, he could not only capture the densely populated and more
The prosperous Huangzhou area would not trigger a full-scale counterattack by the government and army.
"Compared to De'an, Huangzhou Prefecture is richer and has a larger population. Moreover, if the invaders capture Huang and Ma, they can develop through the Dabie Mountains to the Yingshan and Huoshan areas in northern Anhui."
Li Laiheng kept nodding to this strategic direction proposed by Gao Yigong. He still remembered that the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui base areas of the later Red Army were centered on Juma and Yinghuo.
The Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area and the Red Fourth Front Army that relied on it later became the most outstanding Red Army in the country, and also became the basis of force for a certain "prince" in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area to compete for the top spot.
It must be said that Li Laiheng was extremely tempted by the idea of conquering Huang, Ma, Ying, and Huo.
However, Fang Yiren objected, saying: "Mei Zhihuan, who was the former governor of Gansu, was from Macheng. After he returned home after serving as an official, he returned to his hometown of Shenjiazhuang in Macheng to enjoy the woods. But since he left the Fifth Battalion of Zuo and entered Hubei, this Mei Zhihuan
Zhihuan organized an armed regiment with Shenjiazhuang as the center, which is said to have more than 10,000 troops, named Shenzhuang Army."
Mei Zhihuan, the former governor of Gansu Province, came from a wealthy local family in Macheng, and there were thousands of serf-like tenants in his family alone. Moreover, he had served as governor of Gansu Province, served in Jiubian, and suppressed many people.
There are few mutinies and popular rebellions, and rich military experience.
After returning to his hometown, he carried out regiment training in Macheng, built forts, bought cannons, and strengthened his troops and horses, with tens of thousands of soldiers. When the 5th Battalion of Ge Zuo arrived near Macheng, they did not dare to fight against Shen Zhuang's army.
Mei Zhihuan built walls and dug trenches in his hometown of Shenjiazhuang, calling it a "protective fortress". He used this as a center to unite surrounding gentry and develop a powerful Shenzhuang army.
Shen Zhuang's army was mainly composed of Mei Zhihuan and other tenants of the gentry's own family. There were also many gentry tribesmen and villagers participating, and the equipment was quite good. Mei Zhihuan even imported a lot of Hongyi cannon from Guangdong, his old place when he was an official.
, hundreds of well-trained gunners were introduced from another old place, southern Gansu.
When Ma Shouying, the veteran of the fifth battalion of Gezuo, arrived near Macheng, someone suggested that he send troops to attack Shenzhuang in order to seize the large amount of equipment, gunpowder and fine horses that Mei Zhihuan had hoarded.
However, Lao Huihui was also very afraid of the strength of Shenzhuang's army. Until the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo left Huguang and fought in northern Anhui, he did not take action against Macheng.
Shen Zhuang's army of more than 10,000 people!
Although most regiment training armed forces lack field strength, if Shen Zhuang's army comes to Suizhou, Li Laiheng is absolutely confident that he can defeat tens of thousands of Shen Zhuang's troops with only 5,000 troops.
However, regiment training and armed defense are definitely more than enough. With the current strength of the Huguang Army, if you go to Macheng to encounter the Shenzhuang Army, you will definitely have to knock the sand out of your mouth and the stones will come out.
"Oh, there's nothing we can do."
Li Laiheng clapped his forehead with his hand and let out a long sigh. If Shen Zhuang's army did not exist, then the Chuang army's invasion of Juma Yinghuo through the cover of the Dabie Mountains would definitely make up for the current lack of material improvement.
Fang Yiren saw Li Laiheng's troubled face and chuckled deliberately twice. After everyone focused their attention on him, he slowly said: "Do you know what Suizhou was like in the Tang and Song Dynasties before the Ming Dynasty? "
Most of the generals in the Chuang army had limited education. Even Li Laiheng didn't know the history of Suizhou's administrative structure. Everyone shook their heads and couldn't help but fall into a passive state of being led by Fang Yiren.
"Suizhou in the Tang and Song Dynasties was much larger than today's Suizhou. Suizhou in the Tang Dynasty also governed Zaoyang County, which is now under Xiangyang Prefecture. Sui and Zaoyang are integrated into one body, with the terrain connected and the water system connected. Xiangyang and Zaoyang are far away, and If you go from Suizhou to Zaoyang, you will arrive in the morning and in the evening. Isn’t this city already in the master’s pocket?”
Fang Yiren's words brought everyone's attention back to the map. Just as he said, Zaoyang and Suizhou cover each other geographically.
Now that the Chuang Army has occupied Suizhou, it will be easy to obtain Zaoyang from Suizhou, and obtaining Zaoyang can also greatly strengthen Suizhou's depth and defensive strength. In comparison, Zaoyang's value to Xiangyang is relatively low, considering At this time, the strength of the Huguang official army was in a situation where they could barely cope with the defense of the city, but were seriously short of field offensives. Everyone estimated that Song Yihe would not dare to use heavy troops to repeatedly compete for Zaoyang County with the invading army.
“This is truly a heavenly place!”
Fang Yiren was very good at speaking, and his guidance was very effective. The generals no longer had any objections and all agreed to the strategic plan to attack Zaoyang first.
Li Laiheng was also satisfied and said: "Today, all military and political matters have been agreed upon. You can go back to the barracks to rest first. The attack on Zaoyang will have to wait until Suizhou is completely settled before we have the strength to do it. In addition, we will have the strength to do it in Henan. We must also pay attention to the situation at all times, and the actions of the Huguang Army must be able to coordinate with the main force of our Generalissimo as much as possible."
This military meeting at the commander's office set an overall policy and tone for almost all aspects of the Huguang Army's development over a period of time.
Li Laiheng is not worried about the remaining implementation issues. Except for the shortage of manpower, which cannot be solved for the time being, other issues are not considered to be problems.
It was only after the generals left the Commander's Mansion that Li Laiheng chatted with Fang Yiren for a while. After Fang Yiren also left the house, he called Yan Xin, who was in charge of the Red Team of the Huguang Army Intelligence Agency, to the Commander's Mansion.
Yan Xin was from Shaanzhou and was originally Ai Zhuo's subordinate. However, because Ai Zhuo's previous performance in Luoyang was not good and he showed that he was closer to Li Zicheng than Li Laiheng, he was transferred to the front-line cavalry unit by Li Laiheng. General, the red team was handed over to the more reliable Yan salary.
He is very young, but he is cautious, courteous, and scheming, which makes Li Laiheng very satisfied. He is also very loyal to the small group of former standard-setting soldiers with Li Laiheng as the core, and he can make people feel at ease in everything he does.
"Do you know anything about Shen Zhuangjun?"
Li Laiheng knew that Fang Yiren came from a well-known family, and he had never wanted to have a fierce conflict between the Chuang Army and the famous gentry. However, Li Laiheng was very tempted by Huang Ma Yinghuo in terms of manpower, material resources and critical geographical location, so although he was attracted by what Fang Yiren said. Zhuang Jun gave up his plan to attack Macheng immediately, but he still had some thoughts.
Yan Xin nodded and replied: "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, Ken Deji has sent people to Macheng to purchase a shop. If it is necessary to deal with Shen Zhuang's army, the red team can take action immediately."
"Very good." Li Laiheng clapped his hands, "The Shen Zhuang Army is strong and not that easy to deal with. But I will never allow such a force to exist beside the Chu Army's bed. The red team first went to Macheng to make arrangements and inquire. Intelligence. Although Mei Zhihuan used to be the governor of Gansu, he now has no official status and is just an ordinary squire. He actually has tens of thousands of troops? I don’t believe that Chongzhen will rest assured. The red team went to Macheng to try to create rumors and alienate the government. With our relationship with the local gentry, I believe Chongzhen will help us deal with Shen Zhuang’s army.”
Although Mei Zhihuan's main capital for establishing the Shenzhuang Army was his qualifications as the governor of Gansu, he had already served as an official at home (although he may have received some false titles for his meritorious service in resisting the Fifth Battalion of the Revolutionary Zuo). Li Laiheng did not believe that Chongzhen could Don't worry, a country squire without any title can control such a powerful army.
As long as the red team can stir up the relationship between officials and gentry, think about what will happen to Dongyang Xu Du, who also organizes group training and armed Qinwang?
Chongzhen will help Li Laiheng deal with Shen Zhuang's army.