There are rebels at the top of the Xuanjia Army, and of course the coach Jing Jie has the responsibility to lead. But now is the time to employ people, not to hold leaders accountable.

Fang Yuan threw away the horsewhip with the blood and water, sat back on the king's chair, and said to Jing Jie, "Third brother, you get up first, this matter has nothing to do with you." ”

Jing Jie still knelt down, shook his head and said, "Li Zongze is a high-ranking officer of the Xuanjia Army, he committed something, and I, as the commander of the Xuanjia Army, am guilty of negligence." If the boss wants to be punished, let us punish them together! ”

Su Hongyu knelt side by side with him and pleaded, "Boss, Li Zongze, he fell into evil for a while this time, and he is definitely not really rebellious!" At the moment of employing people, I beg the boss to allow him to make meritorious contributions, and I am willing to guarantee with my life that he will never rebel in the future. ”

Li Zongze saw Jing Jie and his wife pleading for themselves together, and looked at each other with tears in his eyes, and he was indignant.

Fang Yuan looked at Li Zongze, who was beaten and bloodied, and Jing Jie and his wife who pleaded together, Li Zongze was of course executed immediately, but in the troubled times, he should obey the power, if everything is compared with military law, then it is estimated that few of the high-level commanders of the Xuanjia Army are completely innocent.

Fang Yuan said coldly, "Li Zongze! You committed a capital crime this time, but I am merciful and betrayed you with a reprieve! First of all, you were dismissed from the post of commander of the artillery battalion and demoted to 100 households. After you have made meritorious service in this battle, you will be reinstated! ”

Li Zongze was stunned there, he colluded and rebelled, which was a mortal crime. Fang Yuan not only didn't kill, but also left him in the Xuanjia Army, he was simply overjoyed, and looked at Fang Yuan hesitantly, "Regent, I am trying to rebel, this is the crime of Ling Chi and clan extermination in all dynasties, you, you don't kill me?!" ”

Fang Yuan approached him, squatted down, and looked at Li Zongze, who was covered in blood, "Zongze, what kind of rebellion are you?" It's just a hot-headedness that violates military discipline, and in an unconventional way, he is making trouble with the palace and the boss. I can even entrust the enemy with a heavy task, can't I still tolerate my own military achievements of the general?! ”

"It's just that if you have any grievances in the future, you can raise your opinions through formal channels. If the boss doesn't accept it, you can come to the palace to talk! My own brother can open up and say, I have negligence, rectification is, who is not a sage without fault? Don't be resentful, go to job hopping at every turn, do you think that the cabinet of the capital court is more enlightened than our original?! ”

Li Zongze, who had never shed a tear before being beaten, was moved to tears when he heard this, and slapped himself more than ten times, until both cheeks were planted and blood flowed from the corners of his mouth, and then he cried and said, "Regent, I was wrong!" I'm damned! ”

Jing Jie was worried that Fang Yuan wanted to enforce the law impartially again, and the Xuanjia Army would lose another general. This matter ended so peacefully, and everyone was happy, and hurriedly said, "The boss is wise! This time, I was too arbitrary, and I failed to report the omissions in the army to the palace in time, and I also asked the boss to punish him. ”

Fang Yuan bought iodine wine and Yunnan Baiyao powder for treating external injuries from Taobao, and ordered Jinyiwei to take Li Zongze, who had been beaten into a traumatic injury, to apply it in the back hall, so as not to be infected by the whipping wound and cause more serious complications.

Li Zongze kowtowed to Fang Yuan again and again to thank him, Fang Yuan hurriedly stopped his kowtow, helped him up, patted his bloodstained hands, and comforted, "Zongze, heal your injuries earlier, there is still a big battle waiting for you to make meritorious contributions." ”

After Li Zongze went down, Fang Yuan patted Jing Jie's shoulder and laughed and said, "Third brother, do you want to be punished?!" Yes, you can! I also allow you to wear your guilt and make meritorious service, as long as you make meritorious service in this battle, you will be guilty of it! ”

When Su Hongyu heard that he didn't seem to have any plans to stop the army, and wanted to go west again, she was stunned and asked, "Could it be that the boss wants to go west this time?!" ”

Fang Yuan said coldly, "Queen Zhou and Zhu Cihong have caused me to lose face this time, and they have wasted huge manpower and material resources, but they have not contributed to a city or a county, I will definitely be rewarded!" ”

Su Hongyu and Jing Jie glanced at each other, and blurted out, "Is the boss going to the Northern Expedition?!" ”

Jing Jie shook his head and said, "No, the boss wants to attack Fengyang Mansion!" ”

Fang Yuan showed a smile and agreed with Jing Jie's statement, "It's still the third child who understands me!" What we claimed this time was to attack Fengyang Mansion, and the 130,000 Xuanjia troops gathered now certainly couldn't return in vain. The capture of Fengyang Mansion can also be regarded as a warning to the Beijing Imperial Court to fan the flames and plot to attack Jiangnan. ”

"Third child, you will be the commander of the attack on Fengyang Mansion this time, and the deputy commanders are Chigutai, Gan Hui, and Li Zongze. The troops were sent out in two ways, one was that Gan Hui, the governor of Jiangxi, led 40,000 Xuanjia troops from Luzhou Mansion to the north, captured Shouzhou, and went straight to Fengyang; One route is led by you, 40,000 Xuanjia iron cavalry, 50,000 infantry battalion sergeants from the Taihu base, and 2,000 sergeants from the artillery battalion, 100 artillery pieces, and 150,000 requisitioned people. Went out from Yangzhou Mansion, captured Sizhou, and besieged Fengyang Mansion with Gan Hui's department. ”

Fang Yuan's attack on Fengyang Mansion with great fanfare, first, gave an explanation for the sudden assembly of 130,000 Xuanjia troops; The second is that today's Fengyang Mansion is indeed a hard bone to gnaw, and it cannot but attract attention.

Fengyang Mansion is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the hometown of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, after Zhu Yuanzhang ruled the world, he spent millions of manpower and material resources, it took six years, and it was a big city built according to the pattern of Nanjing City. Moreover, in the Ming Dynasty, Fengyang's territory almost covered most of the former Anhui and small parts of Jiangsu, and it was a veritable mansion. In terms of the size of the territory, it is more than Yangzhou Prefecture, and larger than Suzhou, Songjiang, Zhenjiang, and Changzhou combined.

More than ten years ago, Fengyang was captured by Zhang Xianzhong's department once, burned down the palace of the imperial city, and dug up the tomb of the Ming Emperor. However, although the imperial city was burned, the walls of Fengyang City were not seriously damaged, and the defense power was not much better than that of Nanjing City.

Over the past few years, Ma Shiying and Huang Degong have joined forces, and the defense strength of Fengyang City has been greatly enhanced, with at least 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses. Moreover, Ma Shiying and Huang Degong continued to reorganize their armies and strengthen Fengyang's defenses. Today's Fengyang City is a military town with 50,000 Ming troops and a strong city. Compared with Zhang Xianzhong's capture of Fengyang, the defense is not the same.

In particular, Huang Degong, known as Huang Chuangzi in the army, is the only loyal and brave general in the four towns of Nanming River and North in history, and his combat strength is strong, and in history, he defeated Zuo Mengeng who went east to Nanjing. A few years ago, Zuo Liangyu's 200,000-strong army went on a northern expedition, but he was still beaten by Huang Degong in Fengyang Mansion and returned. If Zhang Xianzhong comes to gnaw Fengyang Mansion again at this time, eight or nine times out of ten he will not be able to gnaw it.

The capture of Fengyang Mansion, which belonged to the imperial court, was also Fang Yuan's change of direction to declare war on the imperial court in the capital. It is even the first army of the imperial court, whether to save Fengyang Mansion or not.

If the imperial court rescues Fengyang Mansion, he can tear his face and directly start a war with Sun Chuanting in Shandong. Moreover, Fengyang Mansion, where the war started, was thousands of miles away from Jinan Mansion, the seat of Shandong Governance, and Sun Chuanting went on an expedition of thousands of miles, obviously the strategic situation was more favorable to the original side of the other party, which was equivalent to half of the home field;

If the imperial court does not save Fengyang Mansion, as long as the Beijing imperial court is pulled out of the last nail household embedded in Nanzhili, the only obstacle to the Northern Expedition will be cleared, and Sun Chuanting in Shandong can compete with him.

He would not have fired the first shot, but if Sun Chuanting fired the first shot, when the war would stop, it would be up to Sun Chuanting.

Fang Yuan handed over the task of going out to Jing Jie this time, instead of going to the expedition in person, that is, he wanted to stay in Nanzhili and continue to deal with Li Yan, the envoy sent by Li Zicheng, and Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu from Huai'an Mansion, to pacify these two forces.

He handed over the military token to Jing Jie, and said loudly, "Jing Jie, Chigutai, this is your chance to atone for your sins, don't make any more mistakes!" ”

Jing Jie and Chigutai agreed in unison.

Five days later, the 130,000 Xuanjia soldiers assembled at the Taihu base began to march north in two ways to attack Fengyang Mansion.