For this Eastern Crusade, the Chu army was fully mobilized, so that the garrison of Hengyang was emptied, so Li Runniang's women's army had to be transferred to garrison Hengyang to maintain local law and order, looking at the arsenal, shipyard and Shigu Academy.

The rear was already so tense, and the Jiangxi front was in full swing, full of a strong atmosphere of war.

The Yuezhou battalion was transferred to defend Yuezhou, and the Tongshan battalion was stationed in Ningzhou and Wuning counties in the Mufu Mountains, and left Nanchang one after another.

Before leaving, Wang Kefan personally went to see them off, and earnestly instructed the officers and men that although the Yuezhou Battalion and the Tongshan Battalion did not directly participate in the Eastern Crusade, they must not slacken their efforts, and must keep an eye on Kong Youde and Tan Tai to ensure the safety of Huguang and Jiangxi......

The territory of the Chu army spanned Huguang and Jiangxi, a full half of the province, the Yuezhou battalion and the Tongshan battalion guarded the gate, and a general reserve had to be put behind to be safe...... Although Zhangshu Town is small, the location is very critical, the north is Nanchang, the east is Raozhou Mansion, and the west is the Jiling Pass that connects Huguang, no matter where there is an accident, there is a strong army of Chongyang Battalion as a firefighter, and it can cope with it for a while.

In addition to the Yuezhou battalion, the Tongshan battalion and the Chongyang battalion, the other five battalions of the old eighth battalion of the Chu army had to participate in the Eastern Expedition, the Gongyi battalion, the Tongcheng battalion, the Puqi battalion, the Dongguan battalion, and the Ji'an battalion...... In addition, there are two cavalry battalions of the West Cavalry Battalion and the Jiang Cavalry Battalion, a firearms battalion, a newly formed engineer battalion, and Chen Youlong's Zhenxiao battalion. Wang Jincai and Cao Zhijian's troops were the main forces of the Chu army that could participate in the Eastern Crusade, with a total strength of nearly 60,000 troops.

Of course. These 60,000 people are just an idealized limit number, and in actual combat, due to the pressure of logistical supply and the limitation of tactical conditions, it is impossible to put these 60,000 people into the offensive at one time.

In order to confuse the Qing army and avoid prematurely exposing the direction of the attack, part of the Chu army assembled in Raozhou Mansion and part in Zhangshu Town. The whole army was fully mobilized. The recruits stepped up their martial arts and integrated into the collective, and the veterans were in accordance with the tactical requirements of the Eastern Crusade. New training and exercises were carried out, with the engineer battalion building pontoon bridges and the cavalry battalion wading across the water...... In view of the special terrain of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, various pre-war preparations were made.

On the school grounds. More than two thousand pikemen lined up in five neat phalanxes. stared intently at Pan Jiagui in front of them.

"Grinding the gun in battle, it's not fast, but it's useless, you are about to go to the battlefield, you don't need to learn anything new from me, let's practice the Liuhe gun again in the next few days."

Pan Jiagui held a standard spear of the Chu army in his hand, and after explaining a sentence, he took a posture. Twist the waist with a starting hand back pad, and the spear is flat and stabbed forward. The moves are unpretentious.

The nine-foot spear is completely different from the rifle with the bayonet, and the stabbing technique of later generations can only be used as a temporary transition, and the pikemen of the Chu army began to practice the Liuhe gun as early as three years ago.

Liuhe gun is the most common marksmanship in the Ming army, the Qi family military is the Liuhe gun, the Chu army soldiers have also practiced countless times, with Pan Jiagui stabbing the first shot, more than 2,000 soldiers shot together, shouted in unison: "Kill!" ”

This sound of killing echoed in the huge school field, and the other soldiers around subconsciously looked back, and the field was suddenly quiet for a few seconds, and with the officer's scolding, those soldiers turned around and continued their training.

Pan Jiagui's movements have not stopped, he did not use too much force, nor did he have the fancy tricks of the gun trembling, he simply finished a set of Liuhe guns, and every move was decent, which seemed to be no different from the Liuhe guns that Chu Jun usually practiced.

Among the soldiers of the Chu army, they are highly talented, but they obviously feel a little different, especially those veterans who have been in the army for several years, after practicing this Liuhe gun, there seems to be a steady stream of energy growing in their bodies, and their bodies are full of strength. Pan Jiagui's every action is not fast, but in place, and the Chu army usually practice marksmanship only some small differences in details, the rhythm and angle changed slightly, the action and force is much smoother, the Chu soldiers stabbed out a shot with all their might, after the action was in place, and naturally gave birth to new power, almost a person walked with the gun, and the next move turned his hand and stabbed out.

The Liuhe gun was very popular in the Ming Dynasty, and under the tempering of thousands of times, the Liuhe gun marksmanship used by the Chu army was already very clever, and under the guidance of Pan Jiagui, some details were improved and adjusted, and it tended to be more perfect.

"Practice again."

"Practice again."

Pan Jiagui nodded to the soldiers, and led everyone to practice the Liuhe gun twice again.

"Practice it five times for yourselves."

The soldiers began to practice on their own, and Pan Jiagui walked over from the queue, helped the soldier's arm, pressed the soldier's gun, and explained two sentences from time to time, guiding them one by one. He walked through one phalanx, the soldiers just finished practicing the Liuhe gun, and at the beginning of the second pass, he walked into the second phalanx.

It was already mid-afternoon, and in the distance, a group of civilian and military generals suddenly walked out of the gate of the Chinese military camp, still arguing with each other, and they were noisy, and several of them looked at the school and walked over.

"I have heard for a long time that the Chu army is an elite soldier in a hundred battles, and when I saw it today, this gun array was really strictly cleaned and killed, and it lived up to its name......"

The leader is a middle-aged civil official in his forties, wearing a second-grade official uniform, with two swarthy mustaches, and a shrewd and capable appearance.

Tang Laihe was born in a family of eunuchs, Chongzhen was a jinshi for thirteen years, and then he has been an official in Jiangnan, and he is deeply valued by Shi Kefa, and he also belongs to the Donglin lineage, but after Shi Kefa's death, he and the Donglin Party have gone farther and farther, and they have already parted ways.

When the Hongguang court fell, Tang Laihe served as a political envoy in Guangdong, participated in the establishment of Longwu Emperor Zhu Yujian ascended the throne, and sent 100,000 taels of silver to the newly established Longwu court, which was appreciated by him and promoted to the governor of Guangdong in the second year of Longwu. After Emperor Longwu moved to Guilin, he transferred Zhai Shiping to the military department for a spare post, and urgently needed a confidant to take charge of Guangxi's military and political affairs, so Tang Laihe was transferred to serve as the governor of Guangxi.

In the Longwu court, the imperial party has risen rapidly in the past two years, but the internal members are more complicated, and the leaders are Wang Kun and Pang Tianshou, two great eunuchs. There is also the Jinyi Guard's command to make Ma Jixiang...... Although they were deeply trusted by Emperor Longwu, Wei Zhongxian's fall was twenty years ago, and civil officials were very wary of eunuchs interfering in politics. has been fighting against them unrelentingly, and at the slightest disturbance, they immediately attacked them in groups.

The public opinion of this era was controlled by civil officials, and Wei Zhongxian's one-sided and comprehensive denial, the concept of "the harm of the eunuch party is fiercer than the tiger" was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and Emperor Longwu did not dare to protect the eunuchs and Jinyiwei too much, so the power of the eunuchs and Jinyiwei in the inner court has been restricted. Among the imperial party, the real master is still a court member like Tang Laihe.

A few days ago, Emperor Longwu promoted a newcomer to serve as the governor of Guangxi. Tang Laihe returned to the center of the imperial court, and for the time being, he was sent to serve as the supervisor of the Eastern Expedition, but according to the roadside news source. Tang Laihe will definitely be reused. It is a sure thing that the scholars will be admitted to the cabinet.

Sending such a court member to serve as the overseer of the Eastern Crusade was a decision made by Emperor Longwu after repeated consideration.

He attached great importance to this crusade, almost mobilized the country's manpower and material resources, and it is easy to say that if he loses, there will be turmoil in the court immediately......

This person is very important. First of all, you must have a certain prestige and status, and be able to coordinate among the feudal officials such as Wang Kefan, Wan Yuanji, Jin Shenghuan and Su Guansheng. Second, we must be good at grasping proportions, so that we must not interfere with Wang Kefan's military command, nor can we completely delegate power and turn it into an ornament...... In addition to cooperating with the Chu army in attacking Zhejiang, Tang Laihe's main task was to recover Fujian.

As for whether Fujian can be recovered, Wang Kefan has an indispensable attitude, and is ready to act as the battle develops, and go with the flow, but Emperor Longwu is extremely enthusiastic. The two had several arguments in Guilin, but neither of them could convince anyone, and in the end they could only reach a compromise.

Wang Kefan believes that Fujian is located in the southeast, and even if it is defeated, it will not have much impact on the Qing court. Emperor Longwu was under pressure from all sides, since he launched the Eastern Crusade with great fanfare, he couldn't go to Hangzhou to go around and retreat, no matter what, he had to recover a lost territory, and Fujian was the best target.

Tang Laihe served as the supervisor of the Eastern Expedition, in order to coordinate Wan Yuanji, Su Guansheng and the soldiers and horses sent by the imperial court to launch an attack on Fujian.

The focus of the controversy was over how to coordinate and cooperate between the Eastern Expeditionary Army on the South Route and the Eastern Expeditionary Army on the North Road, and quarreled at the meeting today, and there was no result until the meeting was dismissed, and the focus of the controversy was the timing of the attack and the direction of the Eastern Expeditionary Army on the South Road.

The Chu army demanded that the Eastern Expeditionary Army of the South Road should send a main force to enter the mountainous areas of eastern Zhejiang from Jiangxi, capture Fengling Pass and Xianxia Pass at the junction of Fujian and Zhejiang, cut off the Xianxia Ancient Road, and divide the Fujian Qing Army and the Zhejiang Qing Army into two.

(Fujian and Zhejiang are divided by the Xianxialing Mountains, and at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huangchao attacked Fujian, opened a road in the mountains for 700 miles, leaving the famous Xianxia Ancient Road, Fengling Pass and Xianxia Pass are important passes...... There is just such a road in the mountains, when Boluo attacked Fujian, Zheng Zhilong retreated without a fight, Fujian was lost in a daze, the Qing army did not lose a single soldier, only the traitor Ruan Dacheng climbed the mountain and died of exhaustion. ）

Jiangxi and Guangdong resolutely opposed it, unwilling to go to the south of Zhejiang to drill ravines, and wanted to directly enter the hinterland of Fujian from Tingzhou and other places, and several large armies would attack Fuzhou.

At first, it was just the counselors and staff of the two sides arguing, and in the end, even big names like Wan Yuan Ji jumped out, only Wang Kefan and Tang Laihe have not yet expressed their position.

After the meeting ended, Tang Laihe and Wan Yuanji came out together, and when they saw that Chu Jun was practicing, they came over to watch together.

……

Introducing Ruan Dacheng.

Ruan Dacheng is a typical politician, in the early years was the backbone of the Donglin Party, nicknamed "no block" in the Donglin Point General's Record, and later attached to Wei Zhongxian, Hongguang Dynasty served as the secretary of the military department, the Qing army surrendered immediately after the south, Bolo volunteered when he attacked Fujian, and followed the Qing army to the south.

The mountain road was difficult to walk, Ruan Dacheng walked halfway to his head and face was swollen, Bolo persuaded him to stay and recuperate, Ruan Dacheng was shocked: "What is my illness?" Although I am sixty years old, I can ride a horse, hold a strong bow, and ...... a strong man who insists on going south with illness." When crossing the main peak of Xianxia Ridge, the road became more and more difficult and rugged, and all the generals of the Qing army rode horses to climb up slowly, but Ruan Dacheng jumped off the horse, pointed to the generals of the Qing army and said, I have a hundred times better energy than you young people! Then he strode up the mountain, and when the Qing generals reached the top of the mountain, they found him sitting on a big rock, his body stiff, and he had lost his breath. (To be continued......)