The Chu army is now fighting on several fronts, and the Northern Expedition is only one of the secondary battlefields.

Wang Kefan launched the Northern Expedition in order to train troops, to consume the war resources of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, to replace defense with offense, and to ensure the safety of Nanjing...... The so-called defense of the river must defend the Huai, the Jianghuai region is still under the control of the Qing army, the Chu army continues to attack it, the Qing army will not be able to use the Jianghuai region as a springboard to attack the south of the Yangtze River, Wang Kefan plans to launch three to five army-level northern expeditions before the spring of the sixth year of Longwu, and transfer Kong Youde, Tan Tai and Tun Buer back and forth, if the war goes smoothly, Kong Youde and other troops will have fewer and fewer troops, food and all kinds of war materials.

After the Ming army invaded the three provinces south of the Yangtze River, the Jianghuai region was the most important grain-producing area of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it still had to transport a large amount of grain to Beijing to maintain the "hardcore crops" of the Eight Banners.

In other words, if the Qing army had to prepare for at least a year before it could move south and launch an attack on Nanjing, if Dolgon still died at the end of the year, there would be fierce turmoil within the Qing court, and this buffer time would be greatly extended...... With such a long buffer time, it was enough for Wang Kefan to solve all kinds of hidden dangers within the Southern Ming Dynasty, concentrate all his efforts to deal with the Qing army, recover the Jianghuai step by step, and launch a large-scale Northern Expedition, so as to expel the Manchus from the Guanwai. (

Since it is a secondary battlefield, the number of troops and resources to be invested is limited, and it is mainly a local war, regardless of whether it suffers losses or takes advantage. Do not expand the scale of the war, the most elite troops and the best generals will not be involved in the Northern Expedition.

Senior general in the Chu army. Even among the generals who broke into the camp, Tian Jianxiu was not the best. But he can barely squeeze into the ranks of first-class generals.

Generally speaking, the senior generals who broke into the camp were obviously one or two levels higher than the generals of the old Eighth Battalion, and they usually did not see much difference, only when they were in charge alone, especially when they were in command of a battle alone, the generals who broke into the camp were obviously smarter than the generals of the old Eighth Battalion, and they had a very strong sense of the overall situation, and they could keenly grasp the fighters on the ever-changing and complex battlefield...... For example, the Battle of Hefei of the First Army of the Northern Expedition. This side has just conquered Hefei, I heard that there is a Qing army lone army deep, immediately turned into Shiliang Town to set up an ambush, the other party's reinforcements did not know that Hefei had been conquered by the Chu army, and was still in a hurry to rush forward, and was ambushed in a daze, which fully reflected Tian Jianxiu's ability to adapt to the situation, and the efficiency of using troops was almost exerted to the extreme.

Tian Jianxiu is a general who has followed Li Zicheng for more than ten years. Rong Ma has been in hundreds of battles for half his life, and he has had a glorious moment of killing six generals in five levels, and he has also had the gloomy sadness of walking to the wheat city. With the lives of countless soldiers in exchange for rich experience, the Shiliang ambush battle finally turned into a crushing victory, and it was not a command mistake on the part of Tamihide. It was the troops of the First Army who could not keep up with this fast-paced interspersed and athletic warfare, but after this brutal exercise. The First Army was replenished and rested. Combat effectiveness will definitely increase.

In contrast, although the generals of the old eighth battalion of the Chu army always win battles, they have always been led by Wang Kefan to fight, and their ability to take charge is obviously lacking. In the command of a specific battle, their appearance may be no worse than that of Tian Jianxiu, and they are even stronger than the other party in details, but when it comes to the level of battle command, they are often confused...... All in all, the generals of the old eighth battalion still need a process of growth, and they have too little experience in fighting against the wind, they are all good generals, but they are not handsome, in order to make up for this shortcoming, they must also strengthen the integration with the generals of the camp.

Among the several fronts of the Chu army, the most important is the Wuchang-Jiujiang-Anqing line, which is the main battlefield of the Chu army in the next six months to a year, which is related to Wang Kefan's entire military, political, and economic layout...... It was precisely because of the extreme importance of this battle that Wang Kefan did not rush to start, but patiently closed the net step by step, first solved other secondary battlefields, and first eliminated Shifu's Qing army and naval divisions, on the one hand, made all kinds of preparations, on the other hand, strategically confused the Qing army, and waited until the time was ripe to launch a thunderous blow to completely control the Yangtze River waterway.

The battlefield in southwest Hunan and even Guangxi, Wang Kefan does not value it.

Judging from all kinds of signs, Sun Kewang was very jealous of the Chu army, from the Battle of Huguang to the Battle of Nanchang, from the Battle of Nanchang to the Battle of Ningzhen, the Chu army defeated the powerful Qing army in a row, but the Western Army was a defeated general of the Qing army at the beginning, and he was unwilling to tear his face with the Chu army...... Wang Kefan is not very interested in Guangxi, as long as the Western Army does not threaten Guangdong, does not attack Hunan, there is no need to start a large-scale war with the Western Army, but then again, when it should be tough, it must be tough, and when it should be fought, it must be fought in a local battle, and Sun Kewang will really be hurt and afraid, but he can promote peace by fighting, maintain the balance of power in the southwest, and force the Western Army to develop in the direction of Hanzhong and Shaanxi, don't always think about fighting in the nest.

In addition, Wang Kefan also has a bit of the meaning of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight. The Chu army has done everything it can do, and it is almost shirtless to go into battle with the Western Army, since Sun Kewang and Emperor Longwu are so keen on civil war, let them fight and bleed, why should the Chu army rush into it? If the Longwu army defeats the Western Army against the sky, Wang Kefan is happy to see it, at least reducing the pressure on the rear, and under normal circumstances, the Longwu Army will definitely not be able to defeat the Western Army, Guilin will be stormed, and the Chu Army will definitely be able to reap a lot of benefits if it sends troops to help at a critical moment.

The Hangzhou battlefield is also a secondary battlefield.

In the past half a month, Wang Kefan urged Wang Sheng to intensify his offensive in order to conquer Hangzhou, Shaoxing and other places as much as possible, and free up troops to return to Jiangxi, but Wang Sheng encountered some troubles in the process of attacking Shaoxing......

Shaoxing Mansion. Fucheng is governed by the same city of Shanyin and Huiji counties, known as the first capital in the southeast, and it is also the only stronghold of the Qing army except Hangzhou, with a total of more than 3,000 defenders, because the connection with Hangzhou has been cut off by the Chu army, it is not so much the trend of the horns, but the two lonely cities that are divided and surrounded.

The city defense of Shaoxing Fucheng is quite strong. However, there were not many troops, and Wang Sheng did not attack here at first. Mainly to avoid conflict with the army of King Lu's regime, King Lu's army had attacked the city of Shaoxing two months earlier. After many attacks without breaking the city, Wang Sheng did not send troops to forcibly seize the city according to the usual practice...... More than two months have passed in a blink of an eye, the regime of King Lu has been changed to the name of Longwu, Shaoxing is still unable to attack for a long time, Wang Sheng received Wang Kefan's order at this time, to eliminate the remnants of Hangzhou and Shaoxing, so he wrote a letter to Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Kentang, and at the same time mobilized troops to march to Shaoxing from the northwest and southwest.

In this letter. Wang Sheng was outspoken about his intention to attack Shaoxing, and proposed to build a new army, the Chu army would soon withdraw after capturing Shaoxing, Shaoxing as a buffer zone between Tang and Lu, there would be no garrison all year round, the city would be managed by officials of the Longwu court, set up a market chamber of commerce, and trade with the eastern Zhejiang region controlled by the Lu regime, etc...... This plan is equivalent to dividing Shaoxing Mansion in half, and the west side will be returned to the Longwu regime. In the east, where is the actual control of the Zhilu regime, where is the actual control area of everyone, and where is the future territory boundary, except for the Fucheng Sanyin (Huiji) to the Longwu regime. Everything else is fair to the Lu regime.

Zhang Kentang was very dissatisfied: "Our army has been besieging Shanyin for several months, and the Tartars can't support it, so the Chu army has come to pick up ready-made ones at this time." It's a good calculation! ”

Zhang Mingzhen shook his head and sighed: "Our army has been unable to conquer it for a long time. It is no wonder that Chu Jun has a heart of watching, and now Tang is strong and reckless. Since the Chu army wants to grab this hard bone, let them go. ”

"That's not going to work! Our army does not stop the Chu army, everyone attacks the city according to their ability, and whoever can break the city of Shaoxing is whoever. Zhang Kentang said earnestly: "Wang Sheng claims that he will retreat after breaking the city, but how can there be such a fool in the world?" If we believe his words, in case the Zhongji is driven straight into by the commander of the Chu army, and the Shaoxing Mansion is lost, the Ningbo Mansion will be in danger, and then everyone will be driven back to Zhoushan, what face will you and I have to see the prison country! ”

Since ancient times, the soldiers are not tired of deceit, the territory of the Lu Wang regime is a long strip along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian, and the shape of Chile in South America is somewhat similar to the shape of the later generations, the lack of defensive depth, the east of Shaoxing Mansion is the most important Ningbo Mansion, if Wang Sheng makes a surprise attack on Ningbo Mansion, with the strong combat effectiveness of the Chu army, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, has to be the "Son of Heaven on the Sea" again.

Zhang Mingzhen pondered for a long time, frowned and said: "Okay, this is reasonable, our army will not retreat for the time being, so we will attack Huiji from the east, get out of the way of Shanyin in the west, and see which of the two soldiers and horses will break the city first." ”

(Shanyin and Huiji were two counties at the earliest, just like the three towns of Wuchang, Hankou, Hanyang and Wuchang, slowly developed into a piece, became a city, between the two counties to the Fuhe River in the city as the boundary, the Fuhe River has countless large and small bridges, a small bridge of less than ten meters, the west of the bridge is Shanyin, is Cai Yuanpei's hometown, the east of the bridge is Huiji, is the hometown of Lu Xun, in the seventies of the last century, the river was filled in the road, most of the Fuhe River was filled in, and it became the current liberation road. ）

In Zhang Mingzhen's mind, although the Chu army is good at fighting, it is impossible to break through the city at once, the Qing army is under too much pressure, and it is inevitable to increase troops to Shanyin in the west of the city, and the Huiji in the east of the city is relatively weak, and the army of King Lu is not without a chance...... If we can break the city in front of the Chu army, the future negotiations will be more active, and it is worth a try.

What he didn't expect was that Chu Jun's movements were so fast that he was greatly surprised.

The speed of the Chu army's march was not too fast, but it fought when it came, without hesitation.

After just a few days of preparation, the Chu army built a batch of siege equipment, dug out two tunnels, blew up a big hole in the city wall, and then attacked the city from Shanyin on the west side, although the army of King Lu tried their best, but still could not break through Huiji, Zhang Kentang and Zhang Mingzhen were very disappointed. The scouts sent to investigate, the Chu army continued to pour into the city, breaking the city was a foregone conclusion, there was no point in working hard, Zhang Mingzhen was about to order the withdrawal of troops, but the gate of Huiji was opened from the inside.

Someone sacrificed the city!

What an unexpected surprise!

Zhang Kentang and Zhang Mingzhen immediately led their troops into the city, seized the military and political important places such as Huiji County, and ruled the city separately with the Chu army, roughly that the Chu army occupied Shanyin on the west bank of the Fu River, and the Lu Wang army occupied Huiji on the east bank.

But just a day later, Wang Sheng suddenly sent troops again, crossed the Fuhe River, rushed directly to the Huiji County Ya, and snatched more than a dozen people from it......

Shaoxing is rich, the literary style is prosperous, there are many official families in the former Ming Dynasty, and the powerful gentry and businessmen are even more grasped, among which there are many anti-Qing fighters who are active in the Ming Dynasty. Among these anti-Qing fighters, they were divided into two factions, pro-Tang and pro-Lu. Although the strength of the Lu Wang regime is far inferior to the Longwu court, but eastern Zhejiang is their base camp, and the influence in Shaoxing is great, and the news of the anti-Qing warriors in the city is closed, and I don't know that the Lu Wang regime has been changed to the Longwu year, and the pro-Tang faction and the pro-Lu faction are on the same page, and there are many contradictions.

Seeing that the city was about to be broken, the pro-Tang faction was extremely excited, and tried every possible way to cooperate with the Chu army, but the pro-Lu faction was like a mourner, and brazenly launched an attack on the pro-Tang faction, detaining Wei Geng, Qi Lisun and other leaders of the pro-Tang faction, destroying their plan to sacrifice the city gate, and after two days, after the Chu army broke through Shanyin, they united with the Neiying in the green camp and presented the Huiji city gate to the army of King Lu.

After King Lu's army entered the city, Zhang Kentang personally interrogated Wei Geng and Qi Lisun and others, I heard that they had already contacted the Chu Army Intelligence Bureau, or Gu Yanwu took the line from it, Zhang Kentang knew that trouble was coming, and it was normal for the pro-Tang faction and the pro-Lu faction to clash, but this time the pro-Lu faction did a bit too much, killed two people in the conflict, and also destroyed the plan of the Chu army to cooperate with the outside world, if the news leaked, it would definitely be retaliated by the Chu army.

After discussing with Zhang Mingzhen, they decided to hide Wei Geng and the others first.

Unexpectedly, the news leaked, Wang Sheng suddenly sent troops the next day, snatched Wei Geng and others back, and also captured several leaders of the pro-Lu faction.

In the city of Shaoxing, Xingshì suddenly became very nervous, Zhang Kentang and Zhang Mingzhen personally came to the door and asked Wang Sheng for someone, but Wang Sheng's attitude was very tough, not only did not let people go, but also asked King Lu's army to withdraw from Huiji.

The shape is changing, and Wang Kefan's policy is also changing. After Sun Kewang provoked a civil war, the Longwu court encountered an unprecedented crisis, and there were people within the Lu Dynasty's regime who were ready to move, and if they continued to adopt a policy of softness towards them, it was likely to breed their arrogance and cause even greater trouble...... Wang Sheng's subordinates are not lacking in elite soldiers, it is not difficult to conquer Hangzhou, how to get along with the Lu Wang regime is the difficulty, if Wang Sheng pat his ass and leave after eliminating the Qing army, there is always a huge hidden danger here in eastern Zhejiang. (To be continued......) R1292