Over the next few days, time seemed to pass in a hurry; After clearing and rectifying a lot of internal noise, the final meeting ceremony seemed a little uneventful, even uneventful.

In the eighth year of Qianfu / the spring of the third year of Wang Ba, on the 27th day of February, Daji, everything is appropriate.

According to the contents that had been negotiated and exchanged in advance, and compromised, a high platform was built at the mouth of the river and listed in the front; Slaughtering cattle, sheep, and pigs is the sacrifice of the prison, and the emperor is told to the queen of heaven, the river god Hebo, and the four dragon kings;

Dozens of volunteer army leaders on the stage swore an oath again, and tens of thousands of soldiers and soldiers in the audience echoed in unison:

I am willing to work hard for the people of the world, and take it as my responsibility to overturn the court and recreate the peace of the world; Since then, the Yellow King has been appointed as the leader of the great alliance of the rebel army in the sea, commanding the headquarters and coordinating the actions of the rebel army from all walks of life. . .

It's just that as the only requirement from the position of the Taiping Army, Zhou Huai'an added an additional content to the oath at the end, that is, "Those who dare to violate the oath can be attacked by all the righteous troops in the world." ”

Therefore, after the leaders of the rebel army read this article, Zhou Huai'an could notice it with his own eyesight; In the front row of the array on and off the stage, there are many people whose expressions and colors are not so good-looking, and even some people are worried and hesitant left and right.

Then the blood left by the slaughter was served, and everyone on the stage pointed to dip it next to the mouth, and everyone shouted again towards the sun on the river, "This heart is evidenced by the mountains, rivers, sun and moon, like a great river passing away." ”

In the end, Huang Cun, the commander of the gate, sent a white horse that Huang Chao had ridden for many years, and the boat tied up with flowers was sent to sink into the river, thus completing the final sacrifice. And the neatly assembled army also started and departed from this review.

。。。。。。。。

According to the pre-negotiated strategy and deployment, except for those who are attacking the city outside; As the main force, the rebel army was divided into two main directions of attack;

All the way, led by Shang Rang's department, the old righteous army with two armies and four rates from the Northern Expedition was the team; In this way, they crossed the river along the temporary pontoon bridge laid by the Jiangling Naval Division, which had collected a large number of boats, and joined forces with the rebel army on the opposite bank, and attacked Qizhou, Shuzhou, Luzhou and other places in Huainan Province in Jiangbei to the east, as the center of gravity of the northern line strategy.

All the way, the deputy capital commander Gaihong was the leader, in addition to the two rates and one army, a whole number of eleven men and horses were also arranged, and they marched along the riverside on the spot. Through the subordinates of the Xuanhui Observation Envoy, who had already fallen for most of them; The main attack on the towns and navy under the rule of the Jiangdong states such as Run, Chang, Su, Hu, and Hangzhou was thought to be the southern line.

As for the General's Mansion itself, where Huang Chao is located, and the rear army and the middle rate, they assume the important tasks of the queen and the protection of the baggage team.

As an ally of land and water to help the war, the Taiping Army was assigned to the men and horses of the Southern Road Raiders; The main task at present was to assist the vanguard of the southern front, to attack the territory of Runzhou, which was the cause of the town and navy, and at the same time to cut off any land and water reinforcements on the river that might come from the Huainan side.

At present, although the resurgence of the rebel army is claiming to have spread to most of the seventeen prefectures of Jiangdong, there are not many cities and cities and cities that are actually occupied by them; And most of them are still distributed and controlled in the hands of local officials and troops or local regiments and town soldiers. Therefore, with the process of the rebel army's comings and goings, it was also repeated locally.

This is also the key point to be pulled out and cleaned up in the direction of this strategy. However, with the limelight and corresponding interests in this, there is no need for the Taiping army to compete with them for anything; At present, the Taiping army only needs two things, the first priority to trade prisoners along the way and the spoils of war. In addition, it is to levy rights and interests in the rear of the place where the rebels have passed.

That is, with the "three detachments of exploration, census, and work" as the core, dozens of armed township clearing regiments were formed; responsible for cleaning up, suppressing, and confiscating the local officials, gentry, and the families of the powerful and powerful; Then the relevant people will be tried and executed and exiled accordingly with the means and courage to cut through the chaos with a quick knife.

The selection process and tedious details produced by this are undoubtedly quite laborious and laborious, so most of the rebel army departments who only know how to plunder are disdainful or incomprehensible; But it is also where the most lucrative lies secretly. Because the Taiping Army dealt with these local tyrants and squires, the righteous army found an effective and mature experience.

As a result, the money, food, materials, and materials obtained from "fighting local tyrants and sharing floating wealth" can be used to make more transactions with those rebel armies of other departments, so as to achieve an internal virtuous circle in a certain sense, and reduce the pressure on rear transportation and maintenance. In a sense, it can be regarded as a war to feed the war.

In fact, even if he loses money and makes money or sticks money and food into it, Zhou Huaian will spare no effort to push these things forward; On the one hand, this can establish a relatively stable and clean back-road environment for the rebels, and prevent the resurgence of those old forces too quickly; It is conducive to the follow-up actions of the Taiping Army.

On the other hand, it also destroyed and destroyed in disguise, the foundation of the local influence and ruling order of the imperial court at all levels. And leave a blank space where the news is cut off and the taxes and forced labor cannot be collected.

In fact, after the destruction and elimination of the superstructure, even a chaotic situation under the temporary self-government of the villagers is better than that they are forced or deceived and misled under the limited order controlled by the government and large households, and thus become an obstacle and resistance to the rebel army, and even a hostile existence of war against each other.

And without these accomplices and agents who do not go to the countryside with imperial power, I am afraid that the decree of the imperial court will not even be able to go far from the gate of the county seat. In this way, most of the officers and soldiers in the city have become deaf and blind in a sense, and they have been pulled to the same level as most of the rebels, and it will undoubtedly be more effective to deal with them with half the effort.

Moreover, the Taiping Army was able to use these means of liquidation and the resources obtained to directly or indirectly liberate and mobilize more poor families in the local area to rise up and join the ranks of the rebels and their helpers; The difference between the increase and decrease of the loss and the growth can not be compared with the amount of money and the damage.

Not to mention the experience and experience of the corresponding team's rural work, which is also very beneficial for further expansion of territory or long-distance operations in the future. It's a great result.

Of course, more importantly, Zhou Huai'an hoped to use this artificially created and guided chaos to reduce more obstacles and potential destabilizing factors to the establishment of a new order when the Taiping army expanded and took control of these places in the future;

Therefore, he secretly has another set of plans to induce money, food and materials. to drive some of the more radical friendly troops, in the manner in which they are most familiar and adept, to preemptively and pointedly eliminate the popular men and so-called county families in those cities; They are not given a disguised means of evading the customs with the top brass of the rebel army, or even secretly compromising and losing sincerity.

After all, on the bright side, the General's Mansion headed by Huang Chao still has certain illusions and even some kind of compromise and co-optation for his generation; So this kind of thing can only be done in private, but not said.

"Leader..."

Then a voice interrupted Zhou Huai'an's thoughts at the moment; But it was Zhang Juyan, who was present, who pushed his shoulder slightly and reminded.

Only then did he notice that he was still in a temporary Chinese military tent converted from a temple hall, and there were twenty or thirty people standing noisily under the four walls of the demolished Buddhist hall; Among them, only five people, including themselves, have corresponding beds to sit on, and the others are standing behind their own backs and making their own voices.

It's just that compared to the leaders and generals who were vying to speak, the several Taiping generals who gathered around Zhou Huai'an were also silent with his momentary contemplative silence, which formed a certain stark contrast.

"Brother Xu, I don't know what you think,"

Gai Hong, who was blowing his beard and glaring at the leaders in a noisy military meeting, turned his head and said.

"What are the better regulations and ideas for this Runzhou matter, and let everyone listen to it."

"If you want to talk about this Runzhou. That is the foundation of the town navy, after a long period of operation, the city is deep and the army is abundant; Moreover, the relatives of the local soldiers are all in the city, and the hearts of the military and civilians are not so easy to shake for a while. ”

Zhou Huai'an had come back to his senses and said to them slowly.

"That handsome Zhou Bao is also from the god of the old thief of Huainan, who is known as a righteous brother,。。 Therefore, I do not advocate directly going all out to fight the cities of Dantu (now Zhenjiang City). At least some of the gains outweigh the losses. ”

"After all, at present, most of the rebels are still good at tossing and turning and ambushing and chasing, but they rarely have the experience and means to storm the city. Once the cage city is up and cannot be attacked for a long time, I am afraid that it will cost money and food, not to mention the sharp spirit and people's hearts, and give the officials and troops of foreign aid an opportunity. ”

"What do you have to say, brother? ."

Gai Hong, who looked rough, also seemed to be a little sleepy with arguments and disputes, and said now.

"Of course, it is to avoid the real and the false, cut its wings, weaken its momentum, and finally find a flaw, attack it and save it, so as to lure the snake out of the hole."

Suddenly, a noisy discussion erupted again in these tents.

"Silence, shut up for me, and ask Brother Xuan to further show the specific situation in each."

Gai Hong turned his face to them and roared angrily, and suddenly stopped for a moment before turning to a pleading voice.

"This avoids the real and the virtual, of course, it is the principle of persimmon picking up soft pinching, in addition to the Dantu town in Runzhou, there are still Jiangning, Jurong, Yanling, Qu'a, Jintan several cities, still in the hands of the official army;"

Zhou Huai'an also walked in front of the roughly proportioned sand table, and calmly gestured with a little experience.

In addition, there are more than 10 towns such as Stone Town, Fangshan Town, and Xia Shu Shu, which are based on the wings and echoes of it. Their bases are large and small, and the number of soldiers is strong and weak, and the means of cutting off the wings can fall in these places. ”

"But no matter how big or small they are, with the current strength of the rebels, any one of them can deal with it independently; And once these places are removed, only a little guard can cut off the audio communication between these official and military cities. This gives you more leeway. ”

"In the next step, we can continue to create false news and rumors, and even feint in the city; to make his messengers tired of the path, and to kill them as much as possible; Once the officers and soldiers of these cities became more cautious and guarded. You can choose a place to build a device to attack it. ”

“。。。。。 However, the ultimate purpose of all these actions is to besiege the city and send reinforcements, try to transfer the officers and troops in the city to win a decisive victory in the field, and then weaken the garrison in the city, which is the fundamental reason for achieving the general trend in the short term. ”

"In that case, wouldn't it be necessary to divide the troops."

A bearded rebel leader couldn't help but speak.

"Yes, it's time to divide the troops. Of course, how to arrange it depends on the strategy of Gaidutong. ”

Zhou Huaian nodded without hesitation.

"My Taiping Army Department has not hesitated to cooperate since that time."

After half a ring, after coming out of the main hall where the Chinese military meeting was located and gradually walking away, Cao Shixiong, who was a little anxious, couldn't help but speak:

"Such a careful strategy, but it's cheaper to cover the old wild...

"It's not that easy."

Zhou Huai'an shook his head slightly and smiled.

"This strategy is good and good, but the process requires relatively rigorous and careful support and deployment methods; Do you think these leaders have the corresponding patience and tacit understanding, regardless of whether they follow the trend or not, I am afraid that in the end, they will still be in a hurry to win, and the corresponding chaos will be born. ”

"So my key is to use the reason for the division of troops to get the corresponding expediency, otherwise I will be mixed with these other people, and the corresponding power and burden will still be a lot."

Besides, the words of taking the initiative to show favor and warning before the incident happened are actually far less than the invitation to send charcoal in the snow after the incident, which is more grateful and remembered.

(End of chapter)