Chapter 254: The war breaks out

He Zhaojie was delighted that his chance had come.

"Yes, sir." He Zhaojie replied.

"How do you know what happened in Gaoyou Mansion? How could you save Li Pu and Yibuhua?"

"Sir, although I am just a civilian, I am very kind to the emperor. I have wanted to serve the country since I was a child. Now I am a rebel. A good man should worry about the country and the people." He Zhaojie said, looking at Wei Zhedu's face. He saw that he was becoming more and more impatient and could do it at all times. He knew that these words of gilding on his face made the other party very disgusted.

He Zhaojie didn't dare to gossip, and continued: "I'm a salt merchant, but the business in Gaoyou Mansion has been very bad recently. I know that there might be something else in Gaoyou Mansion, so I asked for it myself. Unexpectedly, the arrogant Zhang Shicheng actually detained the prefect and Lord Daluhuachi, became the local emperor of Gaoyou Mansion, and said that he was doing justice for heaven and rebelling against Yuan and Song, and had no other ability, so he had to rescue the two adults quietly. Unexpectedly, General Qinbuhua was still killed."

He finally had the opportunity to talk to a first-rank official like Zuo Cheng of the Provincial People's Provincial People's Court, of course He Zhaojie had to add fuel to the fire. He wished that the Provincial People could send troops immediately to kill the damn Zhang Shicheng. He praised himself and left a good impression, which was very beneficial to his future.

Sure enough, after saying this, the others around him had already shown admiring eyes. Mr. He didn't realize that he was a salt merchant, but he was also such a patriotic person. Some time ago, the prefect of Yangzhou took the wrong medicine and deliberately asked He Zhaojie for trouble.

"Are you familiar with the situation in Gaoyou Mansion?" asked Wei Zhedu.

"Sir, the situation in Gaoyou Mansion is very complicated. Now, Zhang Shicheng has occupied Gaoyou Mansion and its power has expanded. According to my observation, there are at least a few thousand troops stationed in Gaoyou Mansion, and there is a large navy camp outside the city. If you let it go, Zhang Shicheng will probably be more rampant and will not take the province seriously."

After saying that, He Zhaojie regretted it. What if he exaggerated Zhang Shicheng's power and instead played a counter-effect? ​​What if the province is afraid and does not encircle and suppress it?

Sure enough, Wei Zhedu looked very unhappy: "Young Master He was worried about the country and the people, and he was a role model for the province. I will write to you to the court to make contributions. Now, if you have nothing to do with you, let's go down first."

However, He Zhaojie didn't know why Wei Zhedu was unhappy. He Zhaojie deliberately exaggerated Zhang Shicheng, which was considered a pain point in Wei Zhedu.

If it weren't for thinking that this person had made the contribution of saving Li Pu, Wei Zhedu would have gotten angry and let Zhang Shicheng go, wouldn't he be talking about himself? Didn't he agree to recruit Zhang Shicheng at the beginning? As the left prime minister of the province, Wei Zhedu didn't have any real skills, just because he bribed Hama, the popular man around the emperor. Wei Zhedu was not very good at fighting, and he was very proficient in everything in the officialdom.

Similarly, Zhao Lian was also very disgusted with He Zhaojie's plan to recruit him, but he formulated it.

He Zhaojie heard that he was already chasing him, so he had to leave.

"Sir, let's immediately raise an army and arrest Zhang Shicheng for punishment." Fushou said.

"This matter is impatient. Please come back to the right prime minister who went to Chuzhou to come back." Wei Zhedu said: "Everyone will go back immediately, rectify the army, and prepare to enlist Gaoyou!"

Everyone looked at each other. What's wrong with Lord Zuo Cheng? It's just Zhang Shicheng. If you send Dashitemuer to suppress Zhang Shicheng, can you use such a big momentum? There is no need to notify the right prime minister.

Wei Zhedu certainly had his own ideas. From his perspective, Zhang Shicheng was a headache, including salt field, Taizhou, Xinghua, Gaoyou Mansion, and these places have now fallen into Zhang Shicheng's hands. If he guarded those places obediently, it would be fine. However, now that Li Pu has come back, the province must pay attention to it, and it must be taken seriously. If you don't go out, you must eliminate Zhang Shicheng.

As for himself, Wei Zhedu had no courage to send troops to encircle and suppress the enemy. Let the right chief make a choice for this mess. Anyway, the right chief in the province is bigger than his official position, and he is so majestic that he ran to Chuzhou to encircle and suppress Zhu Yuanzhang. As for how the right chief makes a choice, that is his business.

When he came back to attack Gaoyou, it would be like letting Zhu Yuanzhang of Chuzhou go. Zhu Yuanzhang was also a restless lord and might cause even more trouble. If the court blamed him, it would be the right chief's mistake, and it had nothing to do with him.

The war in Chuzhou was in a glued state, and Yuque was in a very heavy mood.

Since ancient times, obedience to the court has been the duty of the ministers, and rebellious thieves will not have a good ending. In the third year of Zhizheng, Yu Que was appointed as the supervisor of the Censor and later transferred to the Jiangbei province of Huainan to be the right prime minister. Just as he caught up with Guo Zixing in the province, he raised the anti-flagship and led his troops to fight. From then on, he fought in all directions. Although he was a literati, his military use was also unique. Several groups of people surrounded Haozhou, and he could only blame the weak combat power of the *** army. Therefore, he had always paid attention to the training of the team. Through his efforts, the tens of thousands of people under his command had become an elite soldier.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not an easy person to deal with. There were obstacles and traps everywhere in the mountains. If a large group of people could pass by safely, while a small group of people would disappear without a trace. Even if the troops hit Chuzhou City, there was no supply and it was impossible to attack Chuzhou City. In desperation, Yuque could only send people to guard the entrance and prevent the Red Turban Army from coming out east. Yangzhou was to the east, so there was no mistake.

"Sir, there is an emergency official document coming in Yangzhou." Suddenly, the messenger outside the tent shouted.

"Take it in."

After opening the official document and taking a few glances, Yu Que immediately frowned. It was such a turbulent time.

To the north of Yangzhou City is Gaoyou Prefecture, to the east, to the city of Taizhou, to the south, to the Yangtze River, to the west, to Chuzhou.

Now, Chuzhou has been taken down by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he and he are in a stalemate. Taizhou to the east has been given to Zhang Shicheng. Unexpectedly, Zhang Shicheng was too much and even Gaoyou Mansion was not spared. He was really trying harder and would never tolerate it!

The prefect and Dalu Wachi sent to the province were detained. This was a serious crime for circumcising the nine tribes. Zhang Shicheng even did such a thing and did not take the court seriously at all. He must not let him go this time, otherwise, Yangzhou City would be surrounded by two rebel forces, which was very dangerous.

So, what should I do about the matter here? Zhu Yuanzhang is not an easy-to-handle person!

Yuque has no other way. Once the incident in Gaoyou Mansion spreads, the consequences will be unimaginable. The court will be furious and will have to be solved by the province. In any case, the trouble must be solved.

The province's existing troops are simply insufficient, that is to say, the operation of encirclement and suppression of Chuzhou must be temporarily stopped and lead the army back to the rescue. It is said that Zhang Shicheng's subordinates are equipped with sharp muskets, and this battle will be a tough battle. Moreover, since they are going to fight, they must fully blossom and completely defeat Zhang Shicheng back to its original form!

Leave ten thousand troops behind, guard the main road, and prevent Zhu Yuanzhang from coming out. If he wants to go south, it is the matter of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Just don’t make trouble in the Huainan and Jiangbei provinces.

Return to the army and wipe out Zhang Shicheng! Send people to borrow some troops from the northern provinces, and make sure to solve this problem!

Yuque made up his mind.

Three days later, Yuque's army began to return to Yangzhou.

Chuzhou and Yangzhou only have a few days' itinerary, and Yuque is already making combat deployments. He issued orders one by one from the march. Once he waited and rested, he went to sweep away Zhang Shicheng.

Pingzhang, the political affairs officer, led 50,000 soldiers, set out from Huai'an, headed south to Gaoyou, and surrounded Gaoyou City!

Prince Wanzhetu led 20,000 soldiers to attack Taizhou!

Pingzhang was the political affairs of Fushou, and led 20,000 soldiers to attack Xinghua.

The deputy envoy of Xuanwei of Huaixi, Yesenbuhua, led 20,000 soldiers to attack the salt field east of Xinghua! This part of the army was borrowed from Huaixi.

He personally led 50,000 troops and attacked Gaoyou northward, striving to capture Gaoyou Mansion under the two armies.

These armies have already scattered the entire province's wealth, and there are only one thousand defenders left in Yangzhou City. They are divided into five large armies, smashing Zhang Shicheng's power from both north and south!

This battle is bound to be won.

Moreover, Yu Que is also asking the court to send troops to help.

Among all the targets, Gaoyou Mansion is the focus. Gaoyou Mansion is the home of the thief Zhang Shicheng and the largest city he occupied. As long as Gaoyou Mansion is taken down, the rest of the places will definitely be fleeing. If you want to take Gaoyou, you will definitely have a fierce battle with Zhang Shicheng and deploy 100,000 heavy troops. This shows that Yuque attaches great importance to Gaoyou Mansion. The loss of Gaoyou Mansion is a major dereliction of duty, because Gaoyou Mansion is the location of the canal transportation, and Zhang Shicheng's occupation of Gaoyou Mansion is equivalent to snatching the neck of the court and he must take Gaoyou Mansion back!

All troops were mobilizing nervously and orderly, and Dashitemuer, who was far away, had even begun to set off.

"Brother, the Tartars in Chuzhou have begun to retreat." Luo Guanzhong hurriedly came to report in Gaoyou Mansion.

Zhang Yang attached great importance to intelligence work and allocated a large amount of money and manpower to Luo Guanzhong. Only by mastering accurate intelligence can he use the most appropriate means to attack the enemy. After more than half a year of hard work, Luo Guanzhong has initially established an intelligence network covering the entire province and gradually developed south and north. Although he has not infiltrated personnel in the core areas of the Tatars, the mobilization of the Tatar troops can no longer be concealed by Luo Guanzhong. According to Zhang Yang's instructions, the internal investigation is also being carried out.

"Well, then, we will face a large number of Tartars with rich combat experience." Zhang Yang said: "Although Chuzhou has not been defeated, it is said that the combat effectiveness of these Tartars is still very strong. Even Zhu Yuanzhang is unwilling to fight them on the frontal battlefield."

"Lord, this is also beneficial. If we eliminate all these Tartars, then we will have no rivals in the entire province." Shi Nai'an said from the side.

"Can you know the movements of the Tartars in each part?" Zhang Yang continued to ask.

"As far as we know, the large Tartars have not returned yet, and the Tartars in Yangzhou have not been dispatched yet. I guess they want to act together. However, in our north, new information has been discovered. In the north of Gaoyou Prefecture, a large number of troops appeared in Huai'an, moving towards us."

Direction of Huai'an? Zhang Yang's eyes lit up. Although he had been preparing to develop south, everything in the north had to be paid attention to. The north of Gaoyou Prefecture is Huai'an Road. Huai'an Road has always been relatively calm. Liu Futong, who was very fierce in the north, has been developing north and did not enter Huai'an Road. The rebels in the south were developing south and preparing to occupy a prosperous land. Huai'an Road is the edge of the province and there has never been a large-scale army. How did these troops come? Did the Taurus cavalry in the north go south? If that is true, they have to be strictly guarded, especially there is a person called Kuogutemur in the north, who is very capable of fighting. If he comes, he has to deal with it carefully.

"Where is the army?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Most of them were Han troops, and it is said that they were summoned by the provincial Pingzhang Zhengshitaemuer. There were 50,000 troops, only a small number of Tartar cavalry, and most of them were infantry. Because the marching speed was slow, they set out first. In addition to the 40,000 people on land, there were 10,000 people who were said to be naval troops. They took dozens of warships and entered Gaoyou Lake from Baima Lake in the north. They might have wanted to win us from the water." Luo Guanzhong said.

Ninety-nine percent of the Tartars did not have water, so there were very few naval troops. The Han army they recruited always had to form part of the naval army, and at least they had to protect the key canal transport. Huai'an Road was also on the canal transport line.

Dozens of warships? Zhang Yang's eyes lit up. What he lacked the most now was the warships.

If you want more warships, you can only do it after entering Pingjiang, occupying the shipyard there, and obtaining a large number of workers. Now, your own ships are mainly seized. Now, if you don’t eat them, you’re so sorry for them.

"Since the Tartars dare to come, we will teach them a lesson that will never be forgotten for life." Zhang Yang said: "Order Yuanheng's navy to go north to Bishe Lake and kill these Tartars."

Gaoyou Lake is divided into two parts. The one on the north is called Bishe Lake, the one on the south is called Xinkai Lake, and the one on the west of Gaoyou Mansion is Xinkai Lake.

"They are all Han troops." Luo Guanzhong suddenly said.

"In my eyes, whether they are *** people or Han people, as long as they work for the court, they are enemies." Zhang Yang asked: "Will they let us go because we are Han people? Otherwise, you can tell them that we are Han people, so don't attack us?"

Luo Guanzhong shook his head, it was impossible.

"Each person is their own master, this is their choice. Since they stand opposite us, it is the enemy. We need to destroy the enemy to develop ourselves. This is war." Zhang Yang said. Because the other party is Han and merciful, it is very dangerous in battle. They are Han people, but they are the army of the court and are here to attack themselves, and that is their own enemy.

Luo Guanzhong also understood: "Lord, I understand."

"Then do it well, find out their movements, and inform Bian Yuanheng that this is the first battle and you must win the championship." Zhang Yang said.

Although there were 10,000 people, and Bian Yuanheng's naval army had only 5,000 people, Zhang Yang was not worried at all. They were not of the same level. Children who practiced Taekwondo for five years could not beat adults. No matter how powerful the bow and arrow were, they could not withstand the muskets. Eliminating this naval army would greatly damage the morale of the other party.

"Guanzhong, let you investigate the soldiers guarding the city gate. Can there be any progress?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Lord, this matter is underway. The traitor has not surfaced yet. I am stepping up the investigation." Luo Guanzhong said.

"The sooner this matter is found out, the better. The war is about to be fought. If the traitor turns against us in the battle, it may give us a fatal blow." Zhang Yang said.

"Yes, lord, I will step up." Luo Guanzhong said, the harm of the traitor is naturally huge.

"Guan Zhong, have you done another thing you have explained to you?" Zhang Yang asked.

Luo Guanzhong understood God, and this other thing naturally refers to that big event. "Lord, this matter is under active preparation, but training takes a certain amount of time, and it may take several months to be practical."

Zhang Yang frowned, "It is best to complete it within half a month. After the battle begins, we need it very much."

"Yes, lord, I will do my best." Luo Guanzhong replied.

These questions made Shi Nai'an confused, but the lord didn't say it clearly, and he was embarrassed to ask, what if the lord intended to hide it from him? However, Luo Guanzhong was his student. If he really did hide it from him, he might not be able to hide it, right?

After Luo Guan*** left, Zhang Yang turned around and looked at Shi Nai'an's expression, even slapped the fan listlessly. He knew that he must have been wondering about the dialogue between him and Luo Guanzhong just now.

"Mr. Shi, you don't know what I asked Guan Zhong to do?"

"For this, please make clear to the lord." Shi Nai'an said.

Zhang Yang was happy. This proved that Luo Guan Center had a stronger sense of discipline. If you shouldn't say anything, you would be more like an intelligence officer. If you were an old lady who likes to talk nonsense and talk about anything, you wouldn't be able to hide any secrets.

"Mr. Shi, our information transmission is too backward." Zhang Yang said: "We now mainly rely on fast horses to deliver official documents. In this way, not to mention slowness, we are easily attacked on the battlefield, resulting in the inability to pass on orders and delay the opportunity to fight. We used to occupy relatively few places, and this disadvantage has not been highlighted yet. Now, we already have Gaoyou, Xinghua, Taizhou, and Salt Field. These more important places, fast horses take one day. In the future, the regional scope will be expanded, making it even more difficult to quickly convey important official documents. Therefore, I took a new method."

Shi Nai'an was very interested because the messenger was killed by the enemy, which resulted in delaying military information and even losing. However, if a new method was adopted, it would definitely be of great significance.

"What method?" Shi Nai'an asked.

Zhang Yang didn't say anything, but pointed to the sky.

Shi Nai'an looked up at the sky. There was a roof above his head, and there was nothing?

"Master, what is it?" Shi Nai'an asked.

"It's a pigeon," said Zhang Yang. "I asked Luo Guanzhong to find some playboys from the homes in Gaoyou, collect all their pigeons, and then find some people who have studied birds to feed and train them. Because there are not enough pigeons, they are also training other birds, but other birds are more difficult, and many of them do not recognize their homes."

Shi Nai'an suddenly realized that using carrier pigeons to convey information was also the case in the past. However, if you want to build a carrier pigeon system throughout the country, it is particularly costly. Looking across the country, only the rich man Chen Wansan has this ability.

Zhang Yang also knew that it was expensive because raising birds was a thing for rich people and idle people. But the value of a carrier pigeon was self-evident. It is likely that the transmission of intelligence a few hours earlier would play a key role in the war. Why can the US military dominate the world? The military has the highest level of informatization, and the value of intelligence is overestimated.

From small to large, we have gradually developed. Now we only need to establish a pigeon system in Gaoyou, Xinghua, Salt Field, and Taizhou. Each place only needs four pigeons, including one spare, only five, which is enough. The more places in the future, the larger the number will be needed.

After receiving Zhang Yang's order, Bian Yuanheng was very excited. After half a year of development, the navy has long been a sharp sword. Now, this sharp sword is about to be unsheathed and cut the enemy into pieces.
Chapter completed!