When the boat arrived in Xiangyin, Du Yinxi and others changed to a boat and turned to Changde Mansion in the northwest, and Wang Kefan continued to the north and returned to Yuezhou Mansion.

Yuezhou Mansion was already the territory of the Chu army, and Lu Ding and Ma Jinzhong, who were originally stationed here, returned to Xiangyin County to build city defenses and reorganize their armies.

This was a decision made at the Changsha military meeting, and the Hunan official army relied on the Miluo River to build a defense line from Xiangyin County to Pingjiang County, and if the Yuezhou Mansion was lost, the Qing army must be stopped on this defense line, and they could not be allowed to attack Changsha City lightly. He Tengjiao attached great importance to this line of defense, and in addition to Lu Ding and Ma Jinzhong, he also transferred Wang Jincai, who had the most troops.

After Wang Kefan returned to Yuezhou, he first wrote a letter to Ma Jinzhong, Wang Jincai, and Xiong Lichun of Ningzhou, and then gathered the generals to prepare for the Battle of Huangzhou.

The battle of Huangzhou is small and broad, if it is operated well, it can pry the entire Huguang battle situation, Wang Kefan has high hopes for it, but the specific battle plan has to be improvised, and there is only a general idea for the time being.

I heard that I was going to fight Huangzhou Mansion, and all the generals expressed their approval, even Gu Zongfu, who liked to complain the most, didn't say anything, the reason is obvious, the bad guys are bullying our little friends, at this time, it is definitely not okay to squat down with your head in your hands, you have to quickly find a brick to shoot the bad guy from behind.

With the orders issued by Wang Kefan, even ordinary soldiers knew that they were going to fight a big battle, and the Chu army, which had long been gearing up, was even more excited, encouraging troops and horses, and actively seeking battle. Since the Gongyi battalion was formed two years ago, this unit has hardly lost a battle, and the morale of the whole army is high.

Chongyang, Tongcheng, Tongshan, Puqi and Yuezhou were all the source of the Chu army, and in order to prevent the Qing army from venting their anger and slaughtering the city, the last retreat mobilization was carried out in these places. All the families of the Chu army were to be evacuated to Xiangxi and Jinggangshan in Hunan as much as possible, and if they were really unwilling to leave their hometowns, they should also hide in the countryside and rural areas.

For other ordinary people, try to persuade as much as possible, as long as they are willing to go, they will help, if the Qing army really slaughters the city, it will not verify whether it is the family of the Chu army, and under the butcher's knife, everyone will not be spared.

These counties of Chongyang are the birthplace of the Chu army, but they have fulfilled their historical mission. It will be abandoned in the future Battle of Huguang, and after most of the people are evacuated, it can still play a role in clearing the wilderness.

It would have been difficult to hide such a big move from the eyes and ears of the Qing army, but the recent work of the Intelligence Bureau has been quite effective. Dozens of spies of the Qing army were caught, and they were carefully checked at various intersections and docks. It should be able to keep the news down for a few more days.

In the past, the Ming army did not attach importance to counter-espionage work. The meticulous work of the Qing army has always been very rampant, but after a long time, it has also been a little paralyzed, and the intelligence bureau led by Quan Xi suddenly closed the net and grabbed it, and dozens of big fish and small shrimp were caught in one net.

For the newly established Intelligence Bureau, this is a very good result, you know. The complete elimination of spies is only an ideal state, and it is almost impossible in practice, as long as they do not have complete information, it is too late to send it out. The Intelligence Service has already done its job.

According to Wang Kefan's order, once the identity of these Qing army details was confirmed, they were all beheaded for public display. Even in later generations, espionage crimes cannot enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war, not to mention that the Chu army's prisoner of war policy is very harsh, and only those who voluntarily surrender before the war can spare their lives.

Busy and busy, two days passed in a blink of an eye, and Ma Jinzhong and Wang Jincai suddenly came to Yuezhou Mansion.

Ma Jinzhong has been annoying lately.

His identity is more embarrassing among the warlords in Huguang, and he always acts as a sandwich biscuit between He Tengjiao and Plug Yinxi, He Tengjiao has always distrusted him, and finally threw him to Plug Yinxi, but Plug Yinxi has his own descendant army Junzi Battalion, as well as a strong loyalty battalion, no matter how good Ma Jinzhong is, no matter how good it is, it is limited.

The Junzi Battalion and the Loyalty Battalion are all old troops under Du Yinxi, and the food and salary are close to them first, Ma Jinzhong can only line up behind when he first arrives, but the Loyal Battalion has 200,000 horses, and it is a gluttonous monster that can never be satisfied, and Ma Jinzhong can only follow the hungry.

In addition, the territory of Plug Yin Xikong zhì is limited, and he can't adjust the station for Ma Jinzhong, so he has been staying in Yuezhou Mansion, and if the food and salary are not enough, he will take some crooked ways, and find ways from the common people and local rich households, although life is tight, he can still make do with it.

When the order was transferred a year ago, Ma Jinzhong had no choice but to withdraw from Yuezhou Mansion and transfer to Xiangyin County with Lu Ding.

Ma Jinzhong has thousands of people under him, and his monthly salary is at least tens of thousands of taels of silver, and he doesn't know how to make up for this gap. The Battle of Huguang was about to break out, and it was about to be a war, but the troops were short of food and wages, and Ma Jinzhong was worried about it every day.

At this time, he received a letter from Wang Kefan, it was said that there was a "big deal" to be made, he immediately put down everything in his hand and hurried to Yuezhou Mansion.

Halfway through, he ran into another warlord, Wang Jincai, and when the two of them chatted, they were both invited by Wang Kefan, so they came together.

Wang Jincai turned out to be a partial general of the Dashun army, and when Li Zicheng died, he desperately absorbed other peasant armies, with tens of thousands of horses under his command, and was the strongest among the Hunan warlords, but his ability to lead troops was average, and he had problems with the management of the troops, and now he was also short of money.

is different from Ma Jinzhong's situation, Wang Jincai is more reused by He Tengjiao, and he is quite generous in terms of food and salary, but Wang Jincai has forty or fifty thousand people, and He Tengjiao can't afford to support him, and he needs to solve it himself, so as soon as he received Wang Kefan's letter, he hurriedly came.

"Old Ma, do you think this matter is reliable?" Wang Jincai had great hopes, he was now stationed in Pingjiang County, a county with a population of more than 100,000, and he could not support his 50,000 troops at all.

"Almost, how did Wang Junmen start in the first place, we all watched it with our own eyes, whether it was fighting a war or making money, it was a complete set!" Ma Jinzhong couldn't disagree.

When he first met Wang Kefan, the other party was just a small garrison, with more than 2,000 horses, but after just over a year, Wang Kefan was already in the high position of Admiral Caojiang, and his troops had expanded to more than 20,000 people, a tenfold increase.

Recruiting and expanding the army, in fact, is to smash silver, the monthly military salary is only a small head, but also to take care of food, housing, clothing, that armor and weapons are more expensive, plus other equipment and equipment in the army, livestock, horses, etc., tens of thousands of taels of silver thrown into it can not hear a sound.

After Wang Kefan returned to Huguang, Ma Jinzhong also had the idea of changing his court and taking refuge in the Chu army, but he just thought about it and didn't take any action. Wang Kefan not only has an unstable foundation, but also only has a piece of territory in Yuezhou Mansion in his hands, and after the Battle of Huguang, whether the Chu army still exists is a question, and he can't act rashly now.

But short-term cooperation, making a quick buck and leaving, is a good choice.

Wang Jincai nodded, and asked again: "You are wondering, what are the military men looking for us for?" ”

Ma Jinzhong said without hesitation: "Do you still need to think about this? Definitely hit the Tartars! As long as you open a county seat, this trip will not run in vain, and the rest will be earned! ”

"That is, when I was fighting Puqi, Wang Junmen also deceived me into a pair of gold-lacquered mountain armor, and this time I had to make him vomit out." Wang Jincai smiled.

"I also lost an Uzbao knife!" Ma Jinzhong also felt funny when he talked about the original troubles, and asked again: "Do you estimate, which county are we going to fight this time?" Jiayu, Xianning, or Xingguozhou? ”

Puqi is now in the hands of the Ming army, there is no need to think about it, and after repeated tug-of-war, Puqi has been broken, but Jiayu, Xianning and Xingguozhou are relatively rich.

"It's better to serve it in one pot, I want to get more armor." Although Wang Jincai has many men and horses, his armor is insufficient, so he always thinks about expanding the armor soldiers.

"Hehe, you're really not stupid, what is worth asking for anything." Ma Jinzhong said: "There are tens of thousands of Tartar soldiers squatting in Wuchang Mansion, and it is not so easy to fight these three counties at once!" ”

With the exception of cavalry horses, armor was the most expensive of the commonly used equipment, and it was so complex that money often couldn't buy it......

The two of them guessed all the way, but they didn't determine where Wang Kefan's goal was, Jiayu was too close to Wuchang Mansion, Xianning was easy to defend and difficult to attack, Xingguo Prefecture was too far away from Puqi, it was a little unsafe, as for other places, they didn't think about it.

What I didn't expect happened just like that.

After rushing to Yuezhou Mansion, Wang Kefan clearly told them that the target of this attack was Huangzhou Mansion.

Ma Jinzhong and Wang Jincai were stunned.

"I'm afraid this is not appropriate, Huanggang City is on the other side of the Yangtze River, how can we cross the river? Also, if you can't come back after crossing the river, it's a dead end! Wang Jincai shook his head again and again.

"Open the military gate, Huangzhou Mansion is the place where soldiers die......" Ma Jinzhong and Li Guo invariably asked the same question, it is too risky to fight Huangzhou Mansion!

"Wealth and danger are seeking, the Tartars are competing with the loyalty camp, what are you afraid of?" Wang Kefan said with a smile: "How to cross the Yangtze River, I haven't thought about it now, but after all, it's just a river, others can cross, we can naturally cross, if we really can't cross the Yangtze River, let's make a scene in the south of the Yangtze River, Daye, Ezhou, Xingguozhou, it's really not good to go to Jiujiang Mansion for a trip, that's a good place!" ”

"I'll think about this ......." Ma Jinzhong was a little hesitant, the risk was too great!

"General Wang, are you willing to go?" Wang Kefan asked.

"Well, I've got to think about it, if I'm bitten by a tartar, it's not a joke!" Although Wang Jincai did not directly refuse, his tendencies were already very obvious.

Wang Kefan smiled: "Don't worry, you think about it and then make a decision, you are a guest from afar, I will invite the two of you to drink today, let's go together." ”

(Ezhou was called Wuchang County in the Ming Dynasty, and the three towns of Wuhan where Wuchang Mansion was located were not the same place, because it was easy to cause misunderstanding among readers, so the modern name was used. (To be continued......)