Zhang Kuang proposed to build yì and sent a water division to help in the war.

"This matter is urgent, whether to send a sailor to go on the expedition, I will not be able to make a decision until I go to Xiangyin."

Although Wang Kefan did not refuse, but in fact he had almost made up his mind, he could not send a sailor to fight, he explained to Zhang Kuang: "It is not easy to build a sailor warship, and sailors and sailors must also go through long-term training. ”

The shipyard of the Chu army was set up in Hengyang, but the base of the naval division was at the southern end of Dongting Lake in Xiangyin County, where Ye Jinghai, Shi Lang and other generals had been training for the past six months.

A lot of manpower and material resources have been invested in the water division, and Wang Kefan has always been very concerned about the results, and this time he deliberately turned from Hengyang to Changsha, although it was at the request of Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi, but it was more to inspect the water division.

"Are you going to Xiangyin? I'm going with you, and I'm just going to see the sailors' ships. ”

Zhang Kuang had already held back the words in his heart, and said endlessly: "I understand what you said, the sailors are all piled up with silver, so you should be cautious." But the so-called opportunity can not be lost, the loss will not come, Kong Youde, Tan Tai successive new defeats, morale declined, Shanxi has Jiang Huang to raise the matter, can not increase troops to Huguang, this is a golden opportunity to recover Hubei, if you can use the water division out of Dongting to control the Yangtze River, Yuntai and then lead the army up the river, together with the camp, Junzi camp and other departments, will be able to conquer Wuchang Jiancheng, recover the entire Hubei ......"

"If you can, of course you have to fight. I was afraid that there would be a shortage of sailors and warships, and the sailors would not be trained well, so I rushed into battle. Not necessarily winning. Wang Kefan shook his head, still disagreeing with the sailor to fight, and said in his heart: "The land of the four battles in Hubei is easy to attack and difficult to defend, so it is better to let Kong Youde carry this burden first." ”

He knew the situation of the sailors and the Hengyang shipyard well, because shipbuilding requires a long cycle, and the Hengyang shipyard has just been built. Therefore, the speed of shipbuilding is still very slow, and the first few months have been bareboard, and only in the last two months have new warships been launched. But it is also a small sampan, and it may take several months for the sailors to really form combat effectiveness.

More importantly, in terms of the big strategic direction. The capture of Wuchang yielded limited gains. Far less threatening to the Qing court than the attack on Nanzhili.

Nanzhili was the granary and money bag of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and if it was broken, it would hurt the bones of the Qing court, but Wuchang was more of a military place, and even if it was defeated, it would only hurt the flesh and skin.

Of course, if the monk Kong Youde can be eliminated once and for all, Wang Kefan will definitely choose to attack Wuchang, but the problem is that if the Chu army concentrates all its forces to attack. Kong Youde is likely to abandon Wuchang and Hubei and return directly to Henan.

At the junction of Henan and Hubei, there are dangerous passes such as Wusheng Pass. Let's not talk about how to overcome these natural dangers, even if the Chu army can enter Henan and fight against the Eight Banners in the Central Plains region of Yima Pingchuan, it is not a good idea no matter how you look at it.

In a word, it is possible to defeat Wuchang Mansion, but it may not be able to catch Kong Youde, and there is no possibility of continuing to expand the results of the war, and the threat to the Qing court is not great.

Inadvertently, Wang Kefan was a little distracted: "The envoy to Xiamen should have arrived, I don't know how Zheng Chenggong will reply, Wang Sheng from Raozhou Mansion is going to fight with Fujian Green Camp in the next two days, there should be no accidents......

The Chu army controlled the northwest region of Jiangxi, and Zheng Chenggong had to agree to send a fleet to support, both of which were necessary conditions for attacking Nanzhili, and both were indispensable. Comparatively speaking, Wang Kefan has more trust in his own Chu army, as long as there are no unexpected changes, he believes that Wang Sheng can defeat the Fujian Green Camp, while Zheng Chenggong's side is completely uncontrollable, and can only passively wait for him to make a choice.

The Ming Dynasty, a loyal and well-known national hero admired by all generations, will face the contradictory cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty and his own interests, what kind of choice will he make?

Wang Kefan was both full of expectation and a little worried.

In any case, Nanzhili is much more important than Wuchang. Going there to make a fuss would cause severe damage to the economic foundation of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, far better than attacking Hubei, which was destined to be undefended......

This kind of deep-seated military strategy problem exceeded Zhang Kuang's ability to understand, and the plan to attack Nanzhili had not yet been skimmed, and it was inconvenient for Wang Kefan to say more, and Zhang Kuang was even more unexpected, and he was very disappointed in his heart. As the governor of Huguang, he was eager to recover the entire territory of Hubei and completely eliminate the threat of Kong Youde, but Huguang was obviously the foundation of the Chu army, but Wang Kefan was not enthusiastic, which was incomprehensible.

If you don't understand, you will inevitably guess, Zhang Kuang secretly figured it out, thinking that Wang Kefan was worried about the affairs of the Guilin court, the rear was unstable, and he had no intention of entering Hubei.

"Yuntai rushed all the way to Guilin this time to deal with the incident in the imperial court."

"Hmm......? Well. Wang Kefan was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses, nodded and said: "Yes, the Holy Lord suddenly announced the abolition of the new policy, and all efforts have been wasted, how can I sit idly by, I can't say anything, so I have to run this trip." ”

"Alas, the front is fighting bloodily, but the back is tearing each other down, our Ming Dynasty is always like this, it is difficult to reverse overnight, Yuntai is going to Guilin, you must not be in a hurry...... As for the new policy, since the Holy Lord's imperial edict has been abolished, it cannot be changed overnight, and it will be stopped for at least a year and a half before it can be considered again. If Yuntai forcibly overturns the case of the new deal, it will be attacked by all parties, even if it is a thunderbolt and a temporary plan, it will inevitably be the same in the future party struggle, although the victory is still defeated! ”

Zhang Kuang hasn't seen Wang Kefan for half a year, and this time Baba ran back to Changsha, there are many things to say, the most important thing is that in addition to the Hubei war situation, how the aborted coup in Guilin should end is also a problem that he is very worried about.

Chu Xun Group suffered a big loss and had to fight back, but if Wang Kefan's counterattack was too intense, or the attack area was too large, it would make enemies on all sides and cause a stronger backlash.

If the situation developed to the point where it had to be resolved by force, Wang Kefan was forced to raise troops and return to Guilin, and he would have completely failed in politics. Although under the current situation, there may not be a situation of "the princes of the Eighteen Roads begging Dong Zhuo", but becoming the notorious "Dong Zhuo" will outweigh the losses for Wang Kefan, and Nanming will also fall into strict internal friction and even civil war, affecting the overall situation of resisting the Qing Dynasty.

The struggle around the Longwu New Deal is related to the trend of the court situation, the positioning of the political forces of all parties, and the future fate of the Ming Dynasty...... In public and private, he couldn't stay out of this struggle, so he directly picked it out and said it thoroughly, for fear that Wang Kefan's understanding would be biased.

"The superintendent is worried, and the students have repeatedly thought about it, but when things get into such a field, it has become a tiger, and it is even more undesirable to blindly retreat." Wang Kefan's tone was very calm, and there was even a smile on the corner of his mouth, and he paused for a moment and said: "Such a dilemma, the student is stupid, and he doesn't know how to solve it, and I ask Mr. Asan (Zhang Kuanghao) to teach me." ”

Obedient and listening, Zhang Kuang obviously has the following.

In terms of military affairs, Wang Kefan is an associate professor of the military academy, and after several years of training, he is not worse than those famous Manchu generals, in terms of politics, his vision and knowledge far exceed this era, but he is not good at specific implementation and details, as for all kinds of intrigues in the court, he is at most the level of a high school student, far worse than Zhang Kuang, an old bureaucrat.

It was obviously Lu Daqi's basket, but it gave Wang Kefan a problem. These days, he has thought about it repeatedly, and he has a general plan to deal with it, but he always feels that it is not perfect enough, and there is something missing, he planned to discuss it slowly with Fu Guan and others after arriving in Guilin, since Zhang Kuang is willing to give advice, of course he has to humbly ask him for advice.

"The only way at the moment is to repair the plank road in the bright and Chen Cang in the dark!"

Zhang Kuang's voice suddenly raised, and his eyes were full of brilliance: "What the princes and gentry of Donglin oppose is nothing more than a few laws and regulations such as rent reduction and interest reduction in the new policy, and the investigation of salt administration and official governance...... The new deal moved the fields and the nobles, offended the gentry and nobles, moved the salt tax and the rule of officials, and offended the civil and military generals...... If we can find another way and go all out to attack only one point, even if some people want to make trouble, they will not be able to set off much of a storm, and when the results are seen in a year or two, the resistance will be much smaller if they turn around and implement the new policy again......

Political struggles in the imperial court are the same as wars, and hard encounters are not necessarily the best choice.

When encountering a strong stronghold of the enemy's heavy defense, there is no need to storm it, and it is much better to bypass it and attack the weak link, but to get twice the result with half the effort, and to divide and disintegrate the united enemy and break each one, it is much better than blindly doing brute force.

Zhang Kuang said this truth, Wang Kefan also vaguely thought of it before, but he didn't think about it so thoroughly, after listening to Zhang Kuang's words, and his own ideas verified each other, he immediately felt that his thinking was much clearer.

"The superintendent is really high, and the students have been taught." Wang Kefan thought for a while, and then asked: "It's just where to start, can the governor make it clear?" ”

Where is the enemy's weak link?

Rent and interest reductions can't be carried out, and salt administration and government can't be investigated, so what should be done?

"That's not what I'm good at." Zhang Kuang said: "Daming is riddled with problems, there are many problems everywhere, there are many places to start, and you have to grasp the proportions of this, in short, you must not only pry the court situation, but also let others have scruples, so as not to make the city full of wind and rain." (To be continued......)