Yuezhou Mansion, Linxiang, Chu Army Wang Jincai Department, Zhongjun Hall.

Wang Jincai was discussing with Yuezhou Mansion, there was a military academy outside the door, Cao Zhijian arrived, and the two went out to greet him in person.

"Brother Guangyu (Cao Zhijianzi) has worked hard all the way......" After coming back and taking a seat, Wang Jincai greeted him again and said: "You have also received an order, you and my brother have to fight side by side in this Eastern Expedition, but we must take care of each other." ”

"Well...... others think that Jiangnan is a world of flowers, and they all want to participate in the Eastern Crusade, but I don't want to go. I have been operating in Chongyang and Puqi for more than half a year, and I have worked hard to get a little bit of shape, and I am really reluctant to hand over the number one hand to others. "Cao Zhijian is a little troublesome, his troops have been stationed in the southern area of Wuchang Mansion for half a year, Chongyang, Tongcheng, Tongshan and Puqi are all under his control, and the Qing army has fought several tug-of-wars, and finally occupied Xianning, has regarded this area as his own territory, but suddenly received an order to change the guard, his troops have to be transferred to Jiangxi to participate in the Eastern Crusade.

"I'm not the same, 20,000 horses are reluctant to eat, reluctant to wear, a little money is used to repair Yuezhou City, and now I have to give it to others." Wang Jincai was stationed in Yuezhou Mansion for half a year, responsible for guarding the east of Dongting Lake to prevent Kong Youde from attacking Hunan, and this time he also received an order to change the guard and participate in the Eastern Expedition.

"100,000 soldiers and horses in Jiangxi, why did Wang Junmen transfer Huguang soldiers and horses to the east? So ...... "Yuezhou Mansion Tongzhi surnamed Gao, who has just been sent here from Guilin to take office, is regarded as the governor of Hunan Xiong Wei, not an official of the Chuxun faction. Hearing Wang Jincai and Cao Zhijian complaining, he couldn't help but interject. As soon as the words came out, he realized that something was wrong, so he had to lower his voice and said: "It is very unwise to work so hard and waste money ...... people."

Cao Zhijian's eyes suddenly flashed with fierceness.

Gao Tongzhi was taken aback. I was just halfway through a sentence, and I didn't dare to continue.

"The Eastern Crusade is the top priority at the moment, Er Yin Mo wants to talk about my family's military gate, so as not to cause trouble for the two of us!" Cao Zhijian's tone was heavy. It's one thing for him to complain, it's another thing for outsiders to personally attack Wang Kefan, and this Gao Tongzhi obviously has the intention of provoking. If you don't make a clear statement, it will cause trouble when it reaches Wang Kefan's ears.

"The civil and military are different, and the second Yin doesn't know about the military. Brother Guangyu is not strange. Wang Jincai persuaded him, and explained to Gao Tongzhi: "Although Jiangxi has 100,000 troops, it has just gone through a fierce battle and urgently needs to rest. Troops and horses were drawn from Huguang to march eastward. It was a matter of course......"

From ancient times to the present, there has not been a single army that has been able to fight continuously for a long time without resting and recuperating.

Soldiers are not NPCs, after every large-scale battle, the casualties of the soldiers have to be replenished, the recruits need to run in with the troops, weapons and equipment and various equipment and vehicles have to be repaired, and there are a lot of messy things...... In a sense. Rest and recuperation after the war is more important than fighting, and the problems exposed in the war. It must be resolved in the course of post-war recuperation, so that we can gradually increase our combat effectiveness...... On the other hand, if a unit fights continuously without effective rest, its combat effectiveness will continue to decline, and eventually it will be completely destroyed.

In the past six months or so, the main force of the Chu army has successively carried out the Battle of Huguang and the Battle of Nanchang, and the troops have been very tired, and individual units such as the Yuezhou battalion have suffered heavy casualties.

In general, the idea of using troops in this Eastern Crusade is to use the old to lead the new, and the main force of the old eighth battalion of the Chu army will be the backbone, but since Wang Jincai and Cao Zhijian's troops have joined the Chu army, even if their combat effectiveness is poor, they cannot be raised in vain, and they must be transferred to fight a tough battle.

"Let's prepare as much as possible, and when the Yuezhou camp and Tongshan camp arrive, we will leave immediately." After Wang Jincai finished speaking to Cao Zhijian, he turned to Gao Tongzhi and said: "I want to bring 10,000 armor this time, and I need to prepare a lot of grain and straw......

Cao Zhijian looked at Gao Tongzhi, leaned into Wang Jincai's ear, and whispered: "How did I hear that the main force of the Tongshan Battalion has gone to Mufu Mountain?" This time, it was only a part of the Tongshan camp that came back with the Yuezhou battalion, and Zhou Guodong did not come back with him. ”

"The Dongguan camp has also gone to Mufu Mountain, don't you know yet? This is a clever move made by Wang Junmen. Wang Jincai smiled and stretched out his hand, dipped in tea and drew a very simple map on the table, the middle one represents the Yangtze River, the left dot represents Wuchang, the right dot represents Jiujiang, and the water stain below represents Mufu Mountain: "Mufu Mountain is on the south bank of the Yangtze River, you can attack Wuchang to the west, and Jiujiang can be attacked to the east, Wang Junmen has laid down an elite army here, Kong Youde and Tan Tai are very uncomfortable, and they dare not move lightly......"

Mufu Mountain is like a bridgehead, the strategic location is very important, Wang Kefan sent Zhou Guodong and Zhang Jiayu to garrison here, adding another insurance for Huguang and Jiangxi, in case after the main force of the Chu army left, Kong Youde and Tan Tai ignored the desperate efforts of the Chu army, and the Chu army smashed Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and their own base was also broken by the Qing army.

Seeing the two of them having a small meeting by themselves, Gao Tongzhi became more and more bored and got up to say goodbye.

Wang Jin got up and sent him out of the gate, came back and pulled back from the left and right, and opened the map.

"I'm calling you back this time, and I have a military situation to discuss with you. In addition to the order, the military gate also has a secret order, ordering you and me to act with the camera, and punch the hole before leaving......"

Before the Yuezhou battalion and the Tongshan battalion arrived, Wang Jincai and Cao Zhijian could not leave, and Wang Kefan proposed to them to build a local attack on the periphery of Wuchang Mansion, which could cooperate with the camp to capture Jingzhou, and then put pressure on Kong Youde to cover the eastern crusade.

It's not a dead order. Where to fight and how to fight were all decided by Wang Jincai and Cao Zhijian, who were on the front line, and could not affect the preparations for the Eastern Crusade.

Cao Zhijian thought for a while and said: "In my opinion, this battle is to bluff, the bigger the movement, the better, and the posture must be stretched, so that Kong Youde thinks that we are going to attack Wuchang generally, and it is best to force Tan Tai to send reinforcements...... It's just right, anyway, I'm going to withdraw my troops from Xianning, so I'm going to Jiayu to fight, my family's momentum is not enough, you have to cooperate with me, how about it? ”

Jiayu County is on the bank of the Yangtze River, very close to Wuchang City, and is one of the few strongholds of the Qing army on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

"Jiayu County is not easy to fight...... There are not many Tartars in Jiayu County, but Kong Youde can send troops across the river at any time, don't get us entangled, and we can't get out in the end. Wang Jincai frowned, he, like Hao Shaoqi, turned out to be just a member of the Dashun Army, his military ability was only in the middle and upper, and he was decent in battle, but he didn't have any creativity.

In the management of the troops, his ability is even worse. When Li Zicheng died in Jiugong Mountain, he seized the opportunity to collect the defeated army, which was expanded to 50,000 or 60,000 horses at once, but later the troops became more and more scattered, leaving only more than 30,000 people...... After he was reorganized and joined the Chu army, Wang Kefan sent him a large number of middle-level grassroots officers, and the situation improved.

Cao Zhijian is from a military family, and his level is obviously higher than him.

"It's easy to do! Didn't I just say it, let's just bluff, just compare and compare, no need to really fight. He raised his hand to stop Wang Jincai, who was about to ask a question, and said: "If you want to beat the Tartar, you have to come up with another killer weapon, we are responsible for luring the Tartar over, and let the sailor secretly beat him from behind the buttocks......"

Cao Zhijian pointed to Xiangyin on the map: "There are water divisions in Tartars, and we also have water divisions, Ye Jinghai and Shi Lang have been training soldiers for more than half a year, and it is time to come out to fight." They sneaked out of Dongting Lake, and the Tartar sailors would definitely not have imagined that they would definitely be able to win a big battle if they suddenly launched a surprise attack! ”

Wang Jincai looked at the map, and his eyes became brighter and brighter: "Good strategy!" As long as the sailor can win, you and I might as well kill the carbine again, take down Jiayu County, and let Tan Xiao see our ability! ”

"Yes, this strategy was originally very simple, if you want to hide from Kong Youde, the key is to grasp the timing. We might as well wait for a few more days, and when the camp is started, it won't be too late to send troops to Jiayu......"

The dwarf Liba general, among the Hunan warlords, Cao Zhijian was relatively able to fight, and this person was more loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and he insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty in history until he died of illness in the army.

He was born in the hereditary Cangzhou Wei, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the whole family of men were involved in the war against the Qing Dynasty, plus the family members who died in the war, a total of ninety-three people died, which can be regarded as a full family of loyal martyrs. After Cao Zhijian fled to Hengyang, he was recruited by He Tengjiao and became one of the few major warlords in Hunan step by step.

Historically, after the Qing army invaded Huguang, Cao Zhijian was defeated repeatedly, but compared with other officers and soldiers, at least he dared to fight, and was named the Duke of Yongguo by Emperor Yongli. After his death, most of the troops under his command were attached to Li Dingguo and continued to resist the Qing Dynasty, and they were all relatively loyal.

"When the water diverter goes to war, do you want to ask Wang Junmen?" Wang Jincai asked.

"Will be outside, the king's order will not be affected." Cao Zhijian's idea was very correct: "If you go to Jiangxi again, the fighter plane will be delayed, so let's ask Zhang Junmen to come forward and transfer Ye Jinghai to send troops." ”

When Wang Kefan was not in Huguang, Zhang Kuang was the head of Huguang, and the coordination and command of all the troops had to be summarized here by Zhang Kuang.

Cao Zhijian and Wang Jincai discussed it, and simply rushed back to Changsha by boat together, met Zhang Kuang, and asked him for help.

Zhang Kuang didn't agree at first, but first went to ask Ye Jinghai's opinion, if the sailor felt that he had the ability to fight this battle, he could fight, and if the sailor thought that the conditions were not ripe, this plan had to be abandoned.

Cao Zhijian and Wang Jincai ran to Xiangyin together, and after some efforts, they finally persuaded Ye Jinghai and Shi Lang.

So, the sailors began to prepare for war in full swing, and after forming the army, they practiced for more than half a year, and this was their first time on the battlefield. (To be continued......)