"Brother Fan is really wise, junior brother admires, I came to you today, just to know, what do you think about the imperial court's dispatch of troops to Yingzhou this time?"

Li Xun has been with Brother Fan for several years, and he admires this person's strategy and intelligence very much, and he is also involved in the use of troops in Yingzhou this time, Li Xun wants to hear Fan Zhongyun's opinion.

Fan Zhongyun smiled, did not answer immediately, but looked at Zhu Zhengguo and asked, "Zhu Zhengguo, what do you think of this dispatch in the army?" ”

Zhu Zhengguo pondered for a moment and said: "Many people are talking about this, and their emotions are very high, and they feel that this is a great opportunity to make contributions. ”

"Oh! Do you think so too? ”

Zhu Zhengguo heard the disapproval in Fan Zhongyun's tone, and said in amazement: "Isn't it?" The three armies of the forbidden army, each with 50,000 people, once the imperial court decides to send troops, it must be one of the three armies, that is 50,000 elites, and Yingzhou is only 15,000 troops, the gap between the two sides is more than three times, is it still difficult to win? Several leading generals of the Right Army of the Forbidden Army have written to the Ministry of War several times to ask for battle, wanting to grab this credit in their hands. ”

Fan Zhongyun laughed and said: "What is there to fight for, this time to send troops to Yingzhou, it will inevitably fall on the head of your right army." ”

Zhu Zhengguo was puzzled: "How can you say this? ”

Fan Zhongyun drank a glass of wine and said slowly: "The Chinese army is led by the auxiliary general Yu Wenzhen, but the actual command is in the hands of the eunuch Wang Anmao, this is the emperor's descendant army, and it has the responsibility of guarding the Beijing division, and it is easy not to come out, the left army has fought with the White Turban Army five years ago, and almost all the army has been wiped out, and now it is only full of people, but the equipment and training are insufficient, and they have never experienced war, they can't count on it at all for the time being, so this expedition to Yingzhou can only be the right army of your forbidden army." ”

Listening to Fan Zhongyun's words, Zhu Zhengguo nodded again and again, feeling that what he said was very reasonable.

"Hey! The imperial court wants to take this opportunity to destroy the Yingzhou Jiedu envoy and strengthen its majesty, the idea is good, but what if it fails? Wouldn't it be more majestic and sweeping? ”

Fan Zhongyun sighed, raised his head and drank the wine in his cup, and continued: "Jiangnan tax is related to the foundation of the imperial court, the Yingzhou Jiedu envoy intends to blackmail the imperial court, the imperial court naturally can't sit idly by, and it is certain to send troops, if the imperial court takes 50,000 forbidden troops as the main attack, and orders several Jiedu envoys close to Yingzhou to assist from the side, even if they don't send troops to attack, but it's still certain to act, in this way, the Yingzhou Jiedu envoy will definitely divide his troops to defend it, and he can't gather all his strength to fight, but now? The envoys of Hong and Jiang Jiedu took the initiative to write a letter to ask for war, and the imperial court took into account the overall safety of Jiangnan and rejected their requests, while the other Jiedu envoys were waiting and watching, silent, and the imperial court did not do any coordination, but sent troops to attack Yingzhou alone, isn't it sacrificing their own strengths? It's unwise. ”

"Brother Fan, listening to your tone, it seems that you are not very optimistic about sending troops to Yingzhou this time, could it be that the imperial court will fail with superior troops?"

Li Xun heard something and asked out loud.

Fan Zhongyun shook his head and said silently: "How can there be a normal situation in the way of soldiers, Yingzhou Jiedu has 15,000 soldiers, it is not that there is no power to fight, the imperial court sent troops to Yingzhou this time, whether it is a victory or defeat, I Fan Zhongyun is not a god, and I can't predict the prophet, but... Looking at the relationship between the left, the center and the right armies, we can also analyze some advantages and disadvantages. ”

Li Xun asked: "Please also ask Brother Fan to come and let me understand in my heart." ”

Fan Zhongyun nodded and said: "The power of the leader of the forbidden army is hollowed out, and the power of command falls into the hands of the eunuchs, which seems dangerous, but in fact there is the emperor standing behind him, everyone knows it, in this way, no one dares to say anything, and the generals have nothing to fight for, just act according to the emperor's orders, so the forbidden army is the most stable one among the three armies, the left army has just been integrated, and its commander Wang Renpu, the general of Dingguo, was born in a wealthy family, and his brother is the secretary of the criminal department of the dynasty. Wang Renzi, one of the ministers of the political affairs hall, his family protégés and former officials are all over the place, and the power is great, and it is second only to the Yang family, Wang Renpu himself, he has also been in the army for many years, and has repeatedly made military exploits, and has been in charge of Lingnan Dao for many years as the deputy envoy of Lingnan Dao Jiedu and the envoy of Mozhou Jiedu, whether it is his birth status, or seniority and prestige, it is not something that the five generals under him can look up to, so the left army is also safe. ”

Speaking of this, Fan Zhongyun's eyes narrowed, his fingers knocked on the table, pondered for a moment, and then said in a deep voice: "The right army is very different, Anguo General Huang Chen, although his father and ancestors have achieved the position of prime minister, his family is only a poor family, there are not many people, and there are not many talents. The rest of the clansmen don't need to say anything at all, even if Huang Yan himself is not capable, and he has the nickname of a mediocre general, and the five leading generals under him, among which Gu Yong, Zhan Tai Jingming, and Zhao Feidu are all from famous families, these people, have always been disdainful of Huang Xu, extremely dissatisfied, if they go out to fight, the right army is already unstable, and they have already lost a game before the battle. ”

Li Xun listened very seriously, and the whole person lowered his head there and pondered.

Zhu Zhengguo glanced at Fan Zhongyun, but he didn't care much in his heart, he felt that he was thinking too much, fighting is fighting, how can there be so many curves, but the two are not familiar with each other, although they disdain it in their hearts, it is not easy to refute it.

Yu Guang is just an ordinary person, he only cares whether his own grain harvest is good or not, these national events have nothing to do with him, so everyone discusses there, and he is not good at eating and drinking by himself, he is very bored there, yawning, as for Yan Yi, he looked at Fan Zhongyun blankly, he said so much, Yan Yi didn't understand a word, seeing that Fan Zhongyun finished speaking, oh, lowered his head, drank and ate.

Fan Zhongyun saw the posture of Zhu Zhengguo and the others in his eyes, smiled, didn't say anything, and finally looked at Li Xun who was in thought, and there were still some words in his heart, he hesitated, but finally didn't say it.

...................

Chengping for five years, the fifth day of the seventh month.

Zhao Zhi officially issued an edict to dismiss Zheng Ze Yingzhou Jiedu and recruit him to return to Beijing to report on his work.

As for the emperor's edict and orders, Zheng Ze ignored them and ignored them completely, gathered soldiers and horses in Yingzhou, rectified the grain and grass, and the rebellious heart was obvious.

On July 15, Zheng Ze ordered his generals, led 3,000 troops, occupied Pinghu County, a neighboring state, gathered troops here, strengthened the city defense, formed a frontier and important place, stuck to the road to Yingzhou, and openly tore his face with the imperial court.

On July 20, Zhao Zhi issued an edict appointing Huang Chen, the general of Anguo, as the governor of Pingnan, the eunuch Liu Congxi as the supervisor of the army, and Li Xun as the judge of the supervising army, leading 50,000 soldiers and horses of the right army of the forbidden army to quell the rebellion.