Chapter 1 On the Situation Above the Huai River

From Rushui into the Huai River, the water surface suddenly becomes open. It was the color of melting gold at sunset, and pieces of golden light were sprinkled in the river, sparkling and scaly, as if countless gold were jumping on the surface of the river.

The average width of the Huai River is about one or two miles, and it seems that because hundreds of ships are crowded on the surface of the river, there is a feeling of majesty when viewed from above.

It seems that because of the frequent flooding of the Huai River, there are large areas of barren beaches on both sides of the Huai River, and some of the ground is more sand and gravel, which is a sandy beach. But in more places, countless green creatures are growing tenaciously, and large tracts of green render the vitality of life.

If you look closely, in this green north, there are countless smoke and dust, like a billowing wolf smoke, along the river bank to the east.

This is Cao Ying's brigade of cavalry descending the river.

Zhou Fuchen collected ships in Runing for several months, but he only got more than a few hundred large and small ships. After all, this is not Jiangnan, after the chaos, there are not many ships, but there are only more than 100 big ships.

Therefore, most of the heavy infantry teams in the army advanced by boat, and the large groups of men and horses, and some infantry teams also marched on the shore.

In this way, the speed is not fast.

The largest of them was a three-story ship, which was Luo Rucai's ship.

This ship is an official ship. was cleaned up by Zhou Fuchen and given Luo Rucai a boat.

Luo Rucai didn't want to use it.

But he had to admit one thing, his body was getting worse day by day, although he was holding on in front of outsiders. Living is unharmed. But he couldn't bear it anymore and rode away.

It's just that Luo Yulong and Yang Chengzu can lead the Chinese army and the left army respectively, and sit on the ship, watch the baggage, and the infantry team.

The sailors of the Ming Dynasty have long been rotten into slag.

If you are on the Yangtze River, don't say whether you have combat power, at least there are formed sailors. But on the Haihe River, there are no more sailors who can put up a shelf.

When the news of Cao Ying's army going south came, the prestige shook several counties, especially Yingshang and Huoqiu counties, which were even more shocking.

Luo Rucai sent two partial divisions to divide the two counties.

Liu Rugui has already come to report that Yingshang County has been taken down, and Yingshang County Order has no idea of co-living and dying with the city at all.

By the time Cao Ying's division arrived at Yingshang City, he didn't know where to flee to.

In this way, Liu Rugui almost effortlessly won a county.

At this moment, Luo Rucai got Liu Rugui's good news.

Luo Rucai put this letter behind him, came with his hand, and let the mighty river wind eat his robe, and poured

With a full cloak, looking at the sunset on the horizon, he said, "Mr. Zhang." Yingshang County has been lowered, and it is not far from Huoqiu County. You'll need to be staffed in both places. ”

Luo Rucai's battle this time was completely different from the previous ones.

Xingde is a dignified and upright division, even if he marches across the river, he is not in a hurry, and divides the troops into various places and officials.

It's not the attitude of grabbing and leaving.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness." Zhang Zhen said: "The minister has already transferred more than 100 clerks from Runing. They have all been carefully trained by the ministers, so that a county may not be governed, but it is not difficult to guard a county for His Royal Highness. ”

For this purpose, Zhang Zhen has already transferred all the scribes at all levels in Runing, otherwise Wang Du would not have been promoted to the prefect of a prefecture as a mere body.

As far as Luo Rucai himself is concerned, he is also blind to governing the place, and it is difficult to expect him to have any specific achievements.

can only be left to Zhang Qianshi.

"Then it's biased to Mr. Zhang." Luo Rucai said.

"It is the duty of a minister to do things for His Highness." Zhang Zhibi stood respectfully behind Luo Rucai.

"I'm calling you here because I have a matter to discuss with you." Luo Rucai said: "Zhang Xuan has sent a letter that Ma Shiying's army has retreated from Xiayi. It's just that the right army and the small Yuan battalion, the soldiers and horses are tired, and they don't dare to chase anymore, so they send people to ask for advice. What do you think of Zhang Xuan? Lead the team to join the army, or do you want to be a different division? ”

When Zhang Zhen heard that Zhang Xuan was fine, he was secretly relieved in his heart.

has been working with Zhang Xuan for a long time, and Zhang Zhen has also developed some feelings for Zhang Xuan, and seems to really regard Zhang Zhen as his own brother.

Zhang Xuan was trapped in Xiayi, and Zhang Zhen didn't say a word, not that he wasn't worried about Zhang Xuan, but he felt that he was in a position of suspicion and didn't dare to talk nonsense.

Although he felt that Ma Shiying heard the news of Cao Ying's army marching eastward, he would never be entangled in the land of Xiayi. Zhang Xuan will definitely be safe.

But there was no definite news for a while, and he couldn't feel at ease for a while, so he was at ease at this moment, and he muttered for a while and said: "The speed of our army's march is not fast, and it is advancing by land and water. Ma Shiying will definitely quickly mobilize a large army to the south to block our army. The chosen place must be Shouzhou. ”

"Shouzhou?" Luo Rucai said: "Why Shouzhou? ”

Zhang Zhen said: "After Huaishui came out of Henan, Shouzhou was the first county along the river that our army encountered. Moreover, Shouzhou became Shouchun in ancient times, and it has always been an important place in Huaixi, so the ancients said: 'Shouchun, the origin of Huaixi. 'If there is no two Huai, the Yangtze River will be soldiered, and if there is no longevity, then the two Huai will not be enough to defend it. In ancient times, the northern and southern conquests, Shouchun bore the brunt, and Shouzhou Prefecture was also. At the beginning of the country, the household was forty-three miles, which was like a large mansion in Huaixi, better than Runing Mansion. Enough to support the army. And in the north of Shouzhou, there is a gorge stone mountain, this mountain stands in the middle of Huaihuai, enough to call it dangerous, in the mountain

There is the old Gorge Stone City. Divided into two cities, east and west, standing between the river, the bows and ballistas on both sides of the river are under the arrows, enough to block the river. “

"Come to think of it, Ma Shiying is not a brainless person, and he will definitely send someone to seize this place. According to Shouzhou, and Shouxiashi, if we don't want to give up the strategy of advancing across the river, we must fight here. ”

Before Zhang Qian's words fell, Luo Rucai said angrily: "Why don't you say it earlier, come here, let Luo Dai come." No, you don't need to let Luo Dai come over, immediately send someone to pass the order, let Luo Dai go through the starry night and seize the Gorge Stone City. ”

"Yes." Immediately, I agreed to come down, get off the big boat, change to a small boat, and go to Jiangshan to report the news.

For the Lianghuai territory, although Luo Rucai is not the first time to come to Nanzhili.

But before, they were all wandering, and when they encountered the enemy, they walked and did not take the waterway. Little is known about these geographies.

Luo Rucai said: "I just neglected Mr. Zhang, please forgive me." ”

After a while, Luo Rucai also understood that what Zhang Zhen said was not too late, after all, he had just entered the boundary of Fengyang Mansion at this moment, and there were still a few days to go before Shouzhou, so it was too early to say, even if he occupied Xiashi City, what could he do? I may not be able to hold it. And only the prefect of Shouzhou is not a fool, and the first thing he did when he heard the warning was to defend Xiashi City.

"It's the minister who missed this." Zhang Zhen said: "It was the minister's negligence. ”

"It's just that what I want to ask Mr. is, how does Zhang Xuandang arrange it?" Luo Rucai said.

Zhang Zhi said: "There are advantages and disadvantages of joint operation on land and water, our army does not know how to fight water warfare, and if we do not clean up the two sides of the strait in advance, and the officers and soldiers set fire to the ships, will our army's baggage be burned." Therefore, the minister thought that the army should go east, and it was better to be slow than urgent, even if he could break through Shouzhou and reach Fengyang Mansion, he would have to fight a vicious battle. Therefore, at this moment, it is the best thing to let General Zhang have something to do in the north and contain Fengyang's troops. ”

Luo Rucai pondered for a moment. said: "Order Zhang Xuan to be the commander of the right army, and bring Xiao Yuan Ying, Yang Shenzu, and the newly surrendered Cheng Jikong all under Zhang Xuan's command. Ordered him to attack Zhongdu Fengyang from the north? ”

Zhang Zhen said: "In the opinion of the minister, the road is far away, and the two armies cannot be controlled remotely, and then they can be allowed to act cheaply." ”

"Okay." Luo Rucai said: "Just come according to Mr.'s wishes." ”

Zhang Zhen wrote an order according to Luo Rucai's meaning. and pressed the seal of King Wu, and then sent a fast horse to Xiayi.

Zhang Zhen has been trying his best to do one more thing during this period of time, that is, to formalize Cao Ying, so at this time, Luo Rucai's order is not a simple letter, it must be drafted by Hanlin Bachelor, Luo Rucai Zhu approved, and sealed. What is sent out is regular.

It's just that there are too few scholars around Luo Rucai, and Zhang Zhen has to hang up a bonus title, that is, a bachelor of Hanlin. And now there is only one Hanlin bachelor, Zhang Qian.

This is actually part of Zhang's efforts to formalize.

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