King Zhao's rebellion, Jingshi is far from the point of finding out the truth; But Xue Yan, the secretary of Dali Temple, put forward a speculation of "framing". Emperor Zhu Gaochi immediately seized on this statement and sent Hu Guang, the head of the cabinet, to appease Gao Sui.

Zhu Gaochi didn't dare to think too much at the moment, let alone count the various forces in a big way; At this decisive juncture of the decisive battle related to the fortunes of the country, Zhu Gaochi only wanted to maintain the expediency and stability of all parties, in order to put the power of the imperial court into this battle as much as possible!

The emperor not only sent an envoy to appease King Zhao, but also instructed Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, to write a letter to He Fu; He Fu should put the overall situation first, and as long as he made meritorious contributions on the battlefield, he would definitely be treated fairly after the war.

At the same time, the imperial court sent the palace eunuchs to Changsha Mansion to reward Zhang Fu's loyalty, and issued a decree to grant Zhang Fu the right to kill first and then play on the battlefield; Of course, the imperial court will never mention that Zhang Fu wants to frame Wu Gao......

After the decree was announced, the eunuch went to the military hall of Changsha Mansion to take a seat.

The eunuch said to Zhang Fu: "The emperor said that the rebels of the King of Han swept the southwest. If the British Duke can quell the rebellion for the imperial court, it will be a great credit to the Ming court. The British public residence is famous and shocking the world, and it will be the humerus of the emperor! The emperor has a lot of trust in the British princess, and entrusts him with important responsibilities, and hopes that the British prince will take the overall situation first and live up to the emperor's ardent heart. ”

Zhang Fu hurriedly got up and bowed to the northeast, and choked up with gratitude: "The saint is worried, and it is the sin of all ministers!" The ministers will not dare to slack off in the slightest, and will try their best to quell the rebels in order to repay the emperor's grace! ”

But within two days, Zhang Fu learned that the Jinyi guard sent to Hengzhou had stopped interrogating He Fu...... Those Jinyi Guards, the main people who obeyed, were still the commanders of the Jinyi Guards and the chief of the Beizhen Fu Division.

So Zhang Fu understood that for the time being, he could no longer seize the military power of He Fuzhi's left deputy general. Zhang Fu still didn't trust He Fu very much, so he could only secretly plan to avoid putting He Fu in a critical position when deploying military affairs.

At this time, it is late September, and in late autumn and early winter, the wind in Huguang is getting cooler.

A military general hurriedly walked in outside the lobby door, stepped forward with a report, and said straightforwardly: "General Liu (Changde Liusheng) sent Ma to report that the rebel Guizhou Department is going east and has arrived in Chenxi County, the capital of Chenzhou!" ”

The civil and military forces present looked sideways after hearing this, and Zhang Fu looked at the map without saying a word after reading the report. He silently picked up the paper and waved it, motioning for the guards to pass it down to the surrounding generals.

One of the most important official roads from Guizhou Dusi to Huguang Province is the "Huguang Road", which enters Huguang from Guizhou City to the northeast. And Chenxi County is an important post station in Huguang Road.

To the east of Chenxi County is the northern foot of Meishan (Xuefeng Mountain); The place was mountainous on all sides, and the roads were difficult to navigate, and only the post road leading to Changde Mansion was convenient for the army to walk. Because of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the two dynasties have repeatedly developed and repaired the "Lake Guangdao".

After a long time, Zhang Fu suddenly raised his head and said: "Immediately write a military order, and transfer the main force of Liu Sheng's army to march in the direction of Changsha Mansion!" ”

Everyone soon became noisy, and after a while, a military general clasped his fists and persuaded: "The rebel Guizhou army is marching towards the 'Zhuhu Guangdao', and this road leads to Changde Mansion, why did the marshal transfer the Changde army at this time?" In this way, we can only sit back and watch the rebels occupy Changde Mansion! ”

Several of the surrounding generals were the first to echo.

Zhang Fu looked back left and right, and only said, "What I just said is a military order. ”

When the generals in the hall heard this, they all stopped. The civilian officer of the army hurriedly clenched his fists and said: "The subordinate officer obeys the order, and he will submit the military order later and ask the marshal to sign it!" ”

The civil servant got up and walked to the hall in the back. At this time, Zhang Fucai said to everyone: "The Han king's rebel army of more than 100,000 people, plus Wu Gao's surrendered troops, are all in the direction of Guilin Mansion in Guangxi in the south; So what did the rebels in Guizhou do when they went to Changde Mansion? ”

None of the generals could answer.

Zhang Fu said: "I know better than you that the King of Han uses soldiers. At this time, he transferred troops to Huguang to approach, and he must have gathered troops and horses with the intention of fighting a general battle! The Han King has always been like this in his wars, and he despises the scattered defense of the Liukou and Annam rebels the most, and he must focus on the main battle.

Therefore, the Guizhou rebels will not go to Changde Mansion, which is far away from Guangxi, they will take the mountain road from Chenxi County, and then turn around to Xinhua County and Baoqing Mansion; In order to get closer to the main force of the Han rebels. ”

Zhang Fu's tone may have been a little heavy before, and there was silence in the lobby. At this time, Zhang Fu began to explain, and finally a general stood up and said: "The last general is stupid, and he still can't figure it out. The road from Chenxi County to Xinhua County to the east is criss-crossed by mountains and forests, and there is almost no way to do it! How can you walk the army? How did the rebels go to Xinhua County? ”

Zhang Fu asked, "Is there a human being in the mountainous area?" ”

The general thought for a moment and said, "This ...... There should be villages and people. ”

Zhang Fu said coldly: "If there is no way, how did those locals get in?" ”

The general couldn't answer such a rhetorical question, but his expression was still incredulous. After all, when the Ming army fought a war, it carried a lot of baggage, and it was too difficult to walk, so it could only abandon almost all heavy weapons, and there would be great risks in the supply of military rations.

Zhang Fu overrode the public opinion and said, "Don't worry, my judgment is absolutely not wrong!" The 50,000 Jingzhou troops have broken through Kuizhou, forming a greater deterrent to the Sichuan political envoys; If the rebels do not reinforce Sichuan, they will definitely attack Huguang nearby in an attempt to fight a decisive battle. Ben Shuai had expected this before, so he would divide his troops to attack Sichuan and force the Han rebels to take the initiative to come to the battle! ”

After the general listened, he no longer admonished Zhang Fu.

In the past two days, Zhang Fu has once again mobilized and deployed the army under his command. He ordered the two armies of Nanchang Prefecture, which were advancing westward, to be transferred to Changsha Mansion and Tanzhou Prefecture respectively; They are the total army of 100,000 troops of Chen Mao and Tan Zhong.

At the same time, Zhang Fu transferred the 100,000 Yuezhou army of Xue Lu, the right deputy general, to march in the direction of Changsha Province; The garrisons of Changsha and Tanzhou successively crossed the Xiangjiang River westward.

The 100,000 people of the Changde army Liu Sheng's department also received a military order, and Keri moved to the southeast......

Just as the deployment of the Han rebels, who were gathering their main forces on the west bank of the Huguang and Xiangjiang rivers, Zhang Fu was also trying his best to gather all the armies to the expected battlefield. The main force of Zhang Fujun in this battle can gather more than 400,000 troops at most!

There are 100,000 troops of the left deputy general He Fu, 100,000 troops of the right deputy general Xue Lu, 50,000 troops of Chen Mao, 50,000 troops of Tan Zhong, 100,000 troops of Liu Sheng, and more than 40,000 foot guards of Zhang Fuzhong's army. The total strength of the army is about 450,000.

Zhang Fu originally commanded 700,000 troops on land and water, but Wu Gao's army of more than 100,000 people had been destroyed, and the 80,000 troops of Annan were too far away, and their morale was unbearable. Therefore, Zhang Funeng has gathered more than 400,000 troops in Huguang, which has reached the limit.

Not only did he not avoid the main battle strategy of the Han King Zhu Gaoxu, but he wanted to give full play to this strategy, that is, to gather the main force as much as possible and conduct a major battle of unprecedented scale in the "Pinghan Campaign"!

Most of the ships of the Daming Navy Division were used to transport grain and ammunition, but Zhang Fu still mobilized some of the sailors' warships to attack the rebels' baggage ships in the direction of Yongzhou.

…… From the post city wall of Chenxi County, looking back at the surroundings, there are mountains and mountains everywhere.

Qu Neng, the commander of the northern road of the Han Dynasty, pressed his left hand on the handle of the waist knife and looked into the distance. His shoulder scarf and cloak fluttered in the wind, and his face was darker and thinner than before. Originally, Qu Neng's facial bones were thicker, and the contours were more convex.

Although the road from Guizhou to Chenxi County is also mountainous, there are post stations and warehouses along the way, so there is no need to worry about grain. And the next journey will be full of all kinds of dangers and unknowns.

Qu Neng didn't say a word, his gaze lingered on the mountain shadows in the east for a long time. That's the direction in which the Northern Route Army is going to march! After the various divisions arrived in Chenxi County one after another, everyone would change their route, pass through the mountainous area to the east, and march towards Xinhua County, Baoqing Prefecture.

This section of the road is very difficult and tests the patience of the soldiers. Qu Neng planned to divide the army into several routes, disperse along the mountain roads, and then gather into an army after reaching Xinhua County.

On the main road outside the post city, a group of soldiers was marching in an orderly manner. Between the sound of drums blowing, there are also people's shouts from time to time. But the vast majority of officers and men in the army don't know that Kuizhou has fallen! Many people may not be aware of what it means to lose Kuizhou.

Qu Neng has strictly ordered all the generals to keep this news secret; He also promised that the families of the generals would be in charge of Mu Sheng, Marquis of Xiping, and if necessary, they would be moved to Chengdu Mansion and protected by Mu Mansion. Because there are many soldiers with Sichuan military status in the Northern Route Army, if they know that their hometown is about to be lost, it is difficult not to shake the army's heart......

Previously, the Han Palace's palace issued an order to Qu Neng to march according to the original strategy. Qu Neng knew very well that the Han king's consideration was to replace defense with offense and give up reinforcements to Sichuan; intends to use the victory of the Battle of Huguang to redeem the dangerous situation at this time!

King Han also seems to have realized that Qu Nengbu will have all kinds of dangers if he takes this path. Therefore, in the military order that Qu Neng obtained, in addition to the order written by the Changshi Mansion to march according to the strategy, there is also a line of words annotated by the King of Han himself: The camera acts.

The meaning of those four words is to allow Qu Neng to change course when he is really unable to complete the established strategy; After all, if the plan cannot be completed, the Northern Route Army will be sent to death in the past, and it is better to give up.

At this moment, the two horsemen rushed towards the gate of the post city. After a while, a strange military general quickly climbed the city wall. After checking the letter, the general walked up to Qu Neng, knelt down on one knee, and presented a letter: "Dashuai, this is the news that the brother who guarded the north division of the imperial mansion has just sent to the Chenxi stronghold!" ”

Qu Neng took it, glanced at the lacquer seal, tore open the envelope, and looked at the words in the letter: Liu Shengjun of Changde Mansion has poured out of the nest and opened to the southeast official road.

After reading the news, Qu Neng's expression became more solemn; His face has always been more serious, but his expression is suddenly very terrifying!

…… Changde's army abandoned the city and marched south. This movement shows that the enemy general has guessed Qu Neng's intentions in advance and judged that Qu Neng's army will not go to Changde Mansion.