After Yang Sichang's suicide note was sent, he was still alive for a while. However, his health was visibly declining day by day.
Since Shen Shuren came to Xiangyang, he couldn't just chat with Yang Sichang for a while, finalize the strategy, and then go back to Wuchang directly. After all, Xiangyang is now considered his defense zone as the governor.
His general Yang Jinjue, with five battalions of troops, has been stationed here, blocking the north gate on the west side of Chen Shuren's jurisdiction. Chen Shuren's control in Xiangyang is naturally unquestionable, but Yang Sichang was defeated and retreated.
, guest lives here.
Of course, Shen Shuren must spend some energy to patrol the war zone every day to understand the war preparations. By the way, he should be careful "if Li Zicheng achieves victory in Henan, he will take advantage of the dangerous pass of Tongbai Mountain in Ye County and other places to break into Nanyang."
Basin, continue to attack Xiangyang southward."
Because Chen Shuren knew that according to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", after the battle between Li Zicheng and Zuo Liangyu in Zhuxian Town, Li Zicheng really went south to attack Nanyang and Xiangyang, chasing Zuo Liangyu to escape all the way until he fled to Wuchang.
Still unable to gain a foothold, he finally fled along the Yangtze River until he stopped in Jiujiang.
Now that Zuo Liangyu was still defeated, it was not entirely impossible for Li Zicheng to "abandon Kaifeng, which was difficult to attack, and attack Xiangyang, which was empty due to the recent defeat."
However, after Chen Shuren observed the local combat readiness situation for a few days and sent out scouts to continue to investigate from a distance, he also realized that the risk of such a situation was much lower than during the same period in history.
Under the current series of butterfly effects, unless Li Zicheng suffered other defeats in Henan and lost his foothold, he would not have to separate a partial division and march south to Xiangyang.
After all, Zuo Liangyu was still blocked on the road leading from Tongbai Mountain Pass to Xiangyang. Since Li Zicheng found that Zuo Liangyu was already "the enemy cannot move, I cannot move", it was unlikely that he would deliberately provoke Zuo Liangyu and cause trouble for himself.
Make many enemies.
Li Zicheng occupied Ye County and other places just to provide insurance to ensure that Zuo Liangyu could not attack him. It was defensive, and he held the dangerous mountains and rivers in the border area between the two armies in his own hands, nothing more.
If Li Zicheng really wants to go south and deal with Shen Shuren alone without forcing Zuo Liangyu, then he can choose another path.
For example, first attack from Kaifeng Mansion to the southeast along the Chasm and Ru River to capture Liu Guoneng's Xinyang Mansion, then take the Xinyang Road through Tongbai Mountain, enter the Suihuang area, and attack the inner territory of Chen Shuren.
Among the passes that pass through Tongbai Mountain, there is not much difference between the Fangcheng Road in Ye County and the Xinyang Road in Runan in terms of traffic conditions and difficulty of marching.
Compared with the benefits from offending Zuo Liangyu, who has one less family and 60,000 troops, Li Zicheng is definitely willing to overcome this small geographical difficulty.
Therefore, after understanding this, Shen Shuren knew that if he wanted to remain invincible and ensure that he could defend himself before attacking in the future, the key was Liu Guoneng's side.
As long as Xinyang Mansion is defended, Chen Shuren's core territory will not be threatened by Li Zicheng.
Although Zuo Liangyu no longer obeys the court, he still plays a role in blocking the road. At least when Li Zicheng chooses possible future offensive routes, it blocks the possibility of one of Li Zicheng's moves, which can be regarded as using the remaining heat.
Now that he has come to this conclusion, it is clear what Shen Shuren will do next:
He needs to gather part of Yang Jinjue's troops, as well as the troops he brought back from the Changsha and Hengzhou battlefields in the south, as far as possible to Suizhou Prefecture on the other side of the Han River, and then from Suizhou Prefecture further through Xinyang Road to the front line of Xinyang Prefecture.
In addition, the troops under Zheng Chenggong's command that Shen Shuren stayed in Jiujiang, and even the troops under Huang Degong who stayed in Anlu and other places, also tried their best to move closer to Xinyang.
Regardless of whether the subsequent battle is dominated by Shen Shuren or Li Zicheng, the main battlefield will be between Xinyang Mansion and Kaifeng Mansion.
Either Chen Shuren attacked Kaifeng from Xinyang, or Li Zicheng attacked Xinyang from Kaifeng.
As Chen Shuren needed to go to the front line to handle military affairs in person, the internal affairs, armaments, and logistics of the Wuchang base camp at the rear had to be left to Fang Yizhi to take care of him for a while.
He had been stranded in Xiangyang for a few days, so he asked his messenger to go back with a message and asked Fang Yizhi to help him make arrangements according to the plan and mobilize all the war potential in the hinterland of Huguang as soon as possible.
During the two or three months before he fought with Zhang Xianzhong, the new output from the Daye Iron Mine and Iron Smelting Plant, and the newly made weapons and armor from the military workshop were sent to the front line as soon as possible.
Or some weapons that require rigorous training to form combat effectiveness can also be equipped with troops on the spot, and then sent to the front line after running-in training, which can also reduce some logistical pressure.
After all, the training of firearms troops will be accompanied by a lot of consumption. If it is just to practice marksmanship and tactics, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition are fired in Wuchang, then only the materials themselves will be consumed. If the firing is completed in Xinyang, then there will be more
It consumes more transportation capacity to transport these bullets to the front line.
The specific priorities and rhythm all depended on Fang Yizhi to help him plan.
Of course it was hard for Fang Yizhi to refuse the new task assigned to him by his friend and boss of the same year, but he also had some difficulties.
Originally, Fang Yizhi thought that after Chen Shuren returned to the army, he would be allowed to help manage the internal affairs and logistics for at most seven to eight days and up to ten days, and then Fang Yizhi would be able to temporarily resign and go to the capital.
Running around to help his father Fang Kongzheng redress his injustice.
This kind of thing seems unbelievable to future generations, but it was normal in the feudal era. At that time, when a person died, his parents had to resign and go home. Ding You was three years old. Even if the father was only convicted and imprisoned, if the son knew that his father had
If your grievances are hidden, you should put aside all other things and first make a clear complaint about your father's grievances.
Moreover, Fang Yizhi in history actually resigned from office after Fang Kongzhen was convicted to redress his grievances. In the end, his appeal was successful, and he returned to become an official again. His career was not affected by this temporary resignation at all.
After returning home, he was promoted higher than before. It can be seen that people in the Ming Dynasty also paid great attention to filial piety when they governed the country, and would spread such things as a good talk.
It's just that after Yi Zhi entered the officialdom in history, he always served as a capital official and never held a local position, so it was easy to resign and re-appoint. Before he resigned to redress his father's injustice, he was a common scholar in the Hanlin Academy.
After he redressed his grievance, he returned. Seeing his filial piety, Chongzhen asked him to be appointed to the Hanlin Academy for review. He was also responsible for serving as a lecturer for King Ding and King Yong, that is, teaching Chongzhen's other two younger sons besides the prince to read.
In this life, due to Shen Shuren's butterfly effect, Fang Yizhi only served as a capital official for a few months, and then worked as a local official in Anqing and Wuchang. Therefore, if he wants to resign to redress his father's injustice, there will definitely be a lot of twists and turns.
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Due to the military emergency, Chen Shuren suddenly had so many new tasks. Of course, it was impossible for Fang Yizhi to withdraw, so he could only advise Fang Yizhi to endure it and see if he could think of other ways.
The two exchanged letters several times. Fang Yizhi initially suggested that Shen Shuren consider transferring Zhang Huangyan from Jiangling back to Wuchang to take charge of the logistics and internal affairs of the Huguang armies.
After all, Zhang Huangyan is also at the prefect level, and is Shen Shuren's cousin. It is said that he is close enough in terms of familiarity and reliability, and he is indeed a capable person.
Unfortunately, Chen Shuren told him that he had recently learned that Zhang Huangyan was still a little bit unable to leave. The important areas of Jiangling and Yiling must be guarded by capable people.
Because on the southern battlefield, when Zhang Xianzhong was trying to move to western Hunan, he took Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu with him.
However, Sun Kewang had some new Huguang troops under his command. When they heard that Sun Kewang had been ordered to abandon his base in Huguang and escape to the west, these Huguang bandits were unwilling to leave their homeland, so they wanted to fight against all odds.
They heard that Fang Kongzhen, the governor of Huguang, had just been arrested by the imperial court for questioning. The Jingzhou government might be empty and the people's hearts were unstable, so they dared to organize a sneak attack on Jiangling from Zigui down the river at this juncture.
Fortunately, Zhang Huangyan was cautious in defense and blocked this group of thieves in Yiling. He also fought a blocking battle with only more than 10,000 troops at hand. This happened in early August, and it is still happening today.
Some of the remnants of the fleeing enemies have not been eliminated.
Zhang Huangyan also captured a total of more than 2,000 bandit soldiers, captured a bandit captain, and captured a commander alive. This was considered a small military exploit, and he is expected to get some promotions in the future.
"Eternal God Emperor"
Therefore, at this juncture, Zhang Huangyan, a confidant and famous official with both literary and military skills, could never be transferred back to Wuchang. Shen Shuren pointed at Zhang Huangyan to ensure that Sun Kewang would not take risks, and to ensure that Zhang Xianzhong and the rest of the party gave up completely.
After returning to Huguang, Zhang Huangyan, the chess piece guarding the exit of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, could move.
After Fang Yizhi saw Shen Shuren's difficulties, he knew that there was really no one available for Futai, so he had no choice but to be "robbed of his love" and gave up the idea of resigning for a few months to avenge his father.
As for the young Zheng Chenggong, he was originally at a high level and could be regarded as a spare tire in Shen Shuren's talent pool. But after all, he is only 19 years old now, and his internal affairs and logistics skills are really immature. The situation in Wuchang is left to
He will definitely make a mistake.
It's a pity that "stealing love" in order to help a friend cannot be said on the stage, nor is it as grand as the emperor's decree to let ministers steal love. Fang Yizhi has vaguely felt that he may still do this in the future.
He was criticized by his enemies and gained a long-lasting reputation as "unfilial".
Fortunately, his worries were noticed by his family. At the critical moment, the second sister Fang Ziling jumped out and made it clear to her brother:
"Brother, I know what you are worried about. Knowing that your father has been guilty of a crime and not redressing the grievances will make you feel ashamed to be a human son if the news spreads. But national affairs and military affairs are the top priority. Other people can handle family matters, that's it.
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Why don't you ask your little sister to go to Beijing on your behalf and find an opportunity to rely on connections? It would be best if you can meet with you. If you can't meet with you, you should at least pay a visit to the elder and submit a complaint. You can go back and forth in a month or two at most, and there will be no danger."
Fang Yizhi was hesitating, but was also startled by his younger sister's sudden request: "Nowadays, the war is in chaos, and there are thieves everywhere in the Central Plains. How can you, a weak woman, go to Beijing alone!"
Fang Ziling was not to be outdone: "I didn't say I would go to Beijing alone. If I'm not worried, you can send troops to protect me. If it's not safe to go north via Henan by land, you can also take the waterway."
As for a weak woman asking for help, why not? In the Han Dynasty, Tiying saved her father, and she also helped Emperor Wen to abolish corporal punishment, which has been passed down through the ages. I have been studying for many years, but I still can't do this well?
As for the complaint, you can just write it and let me take it with you. When you make the complaint like this, I can go up to heaven to listen to it and let the world know that brother, you are responsible for the important task of the national military and have no escape, so you did not personally appeal for your father. It is not greedy.
If you are in an official position, you will be rich and honorable, you will not want to go there."
Fang Yizhi was shocked, and felt that what the younger sister said was very clear and reasonable, and he could not refute it for a while.
"That's all, in that case, you have to put safety and caution first. Now there is a riot in Henan, and even Brother Shen is gathering troops to fight against it. It is too dangerous to go to Henan. Brother, I'd better help you borrow some warships.
Let's take the waterway and the fast boat to take you to Beijing."
With Fang Yizhi's power and his friendship with the Shen family, it was certainly not difficult to borrow a few 400-ton sand ships driven by elite sailors and servants of the Shen family to transport some envoys to Beijing.
The Shen family was originally the King of the Yellow Sea. They were in charge of the northern sea trade and also carried the imperial court's sea and water transportation. This trivial matter was just drizzle.
So the next day, Fang Ziling changed into some men's clothing that was convenient for going out. For convenience, she also brought a few maids who were responsible for internal and external communication, and then took a boat to the north.
The Shen family's boat traveled as quickly as possible, taking shortcuts if it could take the Yangtze River or the Huaihe River to shorten the journey. In less than half a month, Fang Ziling arrived in the capital.
However, Yin Xianmin and He Yide, the prisoners that Chen Shuren had escorted to the capital before, had just arrived in the capital because they were walking slowly on the road. After all, these prisoners were all brought to the capital in prison cars and slowly drawn by oxen, and they could not be like the messengers.
Travel hundreds of miles a day.
Not only did Yin Xianmin He Yide just arrive in the capital, but in fact Fang Kongzhen himself also arrived at about the same time.
Only Yang Sichang's suicide note arrived three or four days early and had been read by Chongzhen. However, Chongzhen felt that the follow-up arrangements for Huguang were too serious, so he temporarily left Yang Sichang's suicide note for discussion in the past few days.
Summon Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia to discuss follow-up arrangements.
After Fang Ziling arrived in Beijing, she quickly spent money to learn about the relevant situation, and was relieved to learn that the emperor had not given up yet.