After occupying Fancheng, Yang Xuan convened the generals to discuss the future battle situation.

Just as the controversy between the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition arose after the Taiping occupation of Wuchang, so did the controversy arose after the occupation of Xiangyang.

The general He Zhen pointed to the map and said in high spirits: "Lord, since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Kou, the world has been shaken, and it is a great shame for the common people all over the world to keep rat tails.

After Yue Fei defeated the Golden Vulture that year, he swore to join the Northern Expedition and vowed to go straight to the Huanglong Mansion before he could give up.

Lord Wang, it is his responsibility to save the people, and now to occupy Xiangyang, it is necessary to prepare as soon as possible. ”

Although He Zhen did not directly ask for the Northern Expedition, he looked like he was swearing, and everyone nodded again and again, and many generals were encouraged and shouted loudly for the Northern Expedition, and some even bluntly said that they would occupy Kaifeng Mansion, restore the old capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and support the prince as the emperor.

As a modern person, although Yang Xuan knew the importance of the base area, but now seeing the appearance of the public swearing, he also seemed quite hesitant for a moment and a half, and it was difficult to make up his mind.

Senator Wu Yanghu saw that the general situation was not good, and stood up and said: "The prince will raise volunteers and hang the people for crimes, and sooner or later he will inevitably go north to the Central Plains and denounce the violent Qing Dynasty."

But now that the Jierharang Group is in Hunan Province, the Yuele Group is in Wuchang, and the Hong Chengchou Group is in Nanzhili, if they venture to the Northern Expedition, even if the officers and men of the three armies use their lives, they may make clothes for others. ”

Now that the Loyal and Righteous Army occupies the north and south to rush to Xiangyang and open the door to the Northern Expedition, how can the generals be willing to give up the great opportunity of the Northern Expedition and give up the great opportunity to make meritorious contributions and become famous through the ages?

The opinions of the civil officials were polarized, but most of them believed that the time was not ripe for the Northern Expedition, and the test delayed the Northern Expedition.

Everyone quoted scriptures and classics and looked for examples that were favorable to them.

Wu Yanghu talked about the Northern Expedition of the Red Turban Army, after the Red Turban Army occupied Kaifeng, it sent the Northern Expedition of the Three Route Army, and the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Middle Route Keyanmen Pass, Datong, and Shangdu, and entered Liaoyang in the northeast, but in the end it was defeated by the Yuan Army, and the Northern Expedition of the Red Turban Army came to an abrupt end.

Yang Xuan was shocked, he had heard of Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others in the Northern Expedition in the past, how had he ever heard of the Northern Expedition of the Red Turban Army?

Unexpectedly, the Red Turban Army was so powerful back then, but in the end, it made clothes for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Thinking of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in history, Yang Xuan suddenly realized and was secretly surprised.

Looking at the red faces of the generals under the tent, Yang Xuan pulled out his sword, slashed it on the table and said: "Everyone, Sun Tzu's Art of War says that a hundred battles are victorious, and those who are not good are also good."

Just as Mr. Guan, Potou Pan and others led the Northern Expedition, although they won a hundred battles, they were finally defeated by the Yuan army, and the army was broken.

Different from other armies, the loyal and righteous army is different from other armies, but also from history, from the opponent, from its own learning to understand its own shortcomings, and to carry forward the vast future battlefield.

Therefore, the military basically abandoned the kind of fan-shaking military, and replaced it with a military and political system of military Chinese officers and politicians with rich operations, training, and command.

The combination of civil and military forces and the lack of complementarity have led to the defeat of the Liukou and the Tartars many times and the victories one after another. ”

Hearing Yang Xuan say this, everyone applauded loudly and expressed compliance.

Gao Wengui pointed to the large map in front of him and introduced the current distribution of troops across the country.

The strength of the Eight Banners of the Tartars is divided into three parts, about 3 percent of them stay in the old nest of Liaodong, about 3 of them become the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing, and the other 4 percent become the Eight Banners of the garrison.

In the past, the Tartars mainly deployed troops along the river, such as along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, along the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

As summarized by Wang Ye, there are canal garrisons (Jingshi, Dezhou, Jingkou, Hangzhou), Yellow River garrisons (Dezhou, Kaifeng, Xi'an), Yangtze River garrisons (Jiangning, Jingkou, Wuchang), and southeast coastal garrisons (Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou).

In order to deal with the crisis, the Manchu court went to the Mongol tribes in southern Mo to persuade the large and small Taiji to send troops south, and so far more than 30,000 Mongolian cavalry have been gathered, known as 100,000, and they are about to rush south to help the Jiangnan provinces.

The main troops stationed in Beijing were the two banners of the barbarian Qing Dynasty, the two banners of the Yellow Banner, the three banners of the Red Banner, and the Han army with varying numbers.

In the Guanzhong region, 50,000 Han army green soldiers and horses and 3,000 Mongolian eight banners under the command of Meng Qiaofang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the commanders Daniel Zhang and Zhao Liangdong.

In Henan, there were 50,000 Guanning soldiers and horses under the command of Wu Sangui, 3,000 Han troops under the command of Li Guohan with blue flags, and 1,000 Mongolian soldiers and horses under the command of Shuotuo.

In Shanxi, there were 4,000 Mongolian cavalry and 40,000 green battalion soldiers and horses commanded by Azig, the prince of the barbarian Qing Dynasty.

In Chahar, Beijing, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Huaibei, there may be 20,000 Mongol cavalry.

In the Jiangnan region, the traitor Hong Chengchou and Duanzhong Prince Boluo, the Yellow Banner Gushan Ezhen Tan Tai and others commanded the Manqing Yellow Banner and the Zhenghong Banner with 10,000 Manchurian Eight Banners and 150,000 Green Battalion soldiers and horses, stationed in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Fujian.

In the Hunan region, there are 6,000 soldiers and horses with blue flags, red flags and 40,000 soldiers and horses with green battalions and horses under the command of Prince Zheng of the Barbarian Qing Dynasty.

In Guangdong, there are 40,000 soldiers and horses commanded by Shang Kexi, king of Pingnan, and Geng Zhongming, king of Jingnan, and 40,000 soldiers and horses commanded by Kong Youde, king of Dingnan, in Guangxi.

In this way, there are more than 40,000 people in the Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners, more than 30,000 Mongolian cavalry, more than 20,000 people in the Eight Banners of the Han Army, plus 350,000 soldiers and horses of the Green Battalion, and more than 45 soldiers and horses of the Barbarian Qing Dynasty.

After listening to the briefing on the situation, everyone realized that there was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, and the possibility of success of the Northern Expedition was very low.

The Loyal and Righteous Army adopted the strategy of elite soldiers, and in addition to the field armies in various towns, more militias were established in the localities to maintain local order.

Although the militia is numerous, it does not play much role in providing a stable supplement to the regular troops, except for ensuring the security of the territory and the people, assisting the army in maintaining order, and safeguarding the security of the grain routes within the territory.

The real elite are the 15 infantry towns, 2 cavalry associations and 4 naval detachments established by Yang Xuan himself, which are equivalent to the field army and garrison troops in the previous life, but the main force of the loyal army is only 130,000 people.

The 1st town was stationed in Sichuan, the 4th town was stationed in Yunnan-Guizhou, and the 2nd town was stationed in Longdong, Hanzhong, and a small number of left-behind troops from each town were stationed in major cities and important military towns to ensure order in the rear.

This time the eastern expedition to the north and the south to conquer the various tribes, its strength was only 100,000, and the main force led by Yang Xuan was only 70,000.

Now the whole country is shaken by the Loyal and Righteous Army's eastward crusade, and many righteous people, including the north, are unwilling to be bullied by the Manchu Tartars, and some people of insight also see the weakness of the Manchu court, or gather people to occupy important places, or respond in tandem in private.

In order to maintain their rule, it was impossible for the Manchus to transfer all their forces to the south.

Just as Yang Xuan judged, even if the battle was stalemate on the Huguang front, it was impossible for the Manchu Qing to transfer more than 300,000 troops to the south, and it was impossible for the real front-line troops to exceed 150,000.

If the Eastern Expedition went smoothly and the Loyal Army could complete the great cause of the Eastern Expedition within a year, the Manchu Qing would only be able to draw a few Mongol cavalry from the south.

Even so, there is still a huge disparity in strength between the two sides.

Yang Xuan preliminarily judged that even if the strategy of elite troops was adopted, if the great cause of the Eastern Expedition was to be completed, the loyal army needed to be expanded to 250,000 people, and if the scourge of the Tartars was to be completely quelled, the loyal army needed to be expanded to 400,000 people.

Hearing the expansion of the army, everyone shouted for joy and cheered loudly.

He Zhen pointed to the map in front of him and said: "Lord, in the past, we fought completely by feeling, temporarily cramming, the prince asked people to collect the overall strength of the Tartars, and marked them one by one, although the time of the war is ever-changing, but all changes are not separated from their origins, and we also know how to deal with it after we have a general understanding of the situation between the enemy and us."

Yang Xuan smiled and said: "Everyone, just as you feel, there are many Tartar cavalry, which is conducive to fighting on the plains, while our loyal and righteous army has a lot of infantry troops, which is conducive to fighting in mountains and hills.

Although there are some Han scum who surrendered among the Tartars, their main force is northerners, who are not only not accustomed to the humid climate of the south, but also not good at water warfare, and most of our soldiers are born in bitter cold, with their faces facing the yellow mud and their backs to the sky, and the days when the scorching sun is in the air.

In this way, in the southern water towns, the hills and plains are advantageous to our army, and unfavorable to the Tartars, I decided to continue to attack in the south and defend in the north, first drive the Tartars out of the south of the Yangtze River, and then wait for the opportunity to go north, so that we can definitely recover Erjing and restore our Han family."

When everyone heard this, they clasped their fists and said yes.

This Eastern Expedition inevitably took the southwest region as the rear and Hubei as the advance base, and decided to establish and appoint Yin Chengqi, the governor of Yunnan, as the governor of Hubei, and Liu Xuanchu, the governor of Xing'an Prefecture, as the prefect of Xiangyang, so as to establish a consolidated base for the Northern Expedition based on the Jianghan Plain.

In order to deal with the threat of Wu Sangui's Guanning soldiers and horses, it was decided to appoint He Zhen as the commander of Yunyang, commanding Chen Yingzong Town in Hanzhong, Liu Tichun's 9th Town in Xiangyang, Ma Chao Cavalry Association, and Wang Fuchen's naval army to hold the Han River defense line against Wu Sangui's group.

The 15th town was formed, and Wang Xiang, deputy director of the General Staff Department, was appointed as the deputy general, Hong Zhenglong and Wang Guangtai were appointed as the generals, and the 41st regiment and 42nd standard were under the jurisdiction.

In order to implement the new policy, more than 100 officials from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Yungui and other officials such as Tang Zhen, Fei Mi, and Shen Xunwei were selected to serve in Hubei Province, and Tang Zhen was promoted to Xiangyang Governor.

After the army rested for three days, Yang Xuan personally led the 3rd town of Guo Chonglie, the 7th town of Jin Tongwu, the 15th town of Wang Xiang, and the artillery of Ma Mingluan to Anlu Mansion and join Cao Xun Town, which had just occupied Anlu Mansion.

Jin Tongwu's 7th Town and Wang Xiang's 15th Town crossed the Han River to form the Jiangbei Group to outflank Yue Le's army, while Yang Xuan led the main force down the Han River, went straight down the Qianjiang River and Xiantao, and rushed to the city of Hanyang Mansion in early August.