After two days of rest and wait-and-see, it was found that the fat army did not show any flaws and did not give the army a chance to sneak attack, the veteran general of the mite Qing Dynasty, Hilgen, was also completely dead to steal and destroy the mind, so he had to let the remnants of the Anqing Qing army continue to be stationed at Hukou to contain it, and at the same time ordered Zhao Yue to replace his father Zhao Guozuo, lead the remnants of more than 6,000 defeated soldiers to abandon Nankang City, withdraw to the original station Nanchang in the starry night, and assist the mite Qing capital to defend Nanchang City, waiting for the mite Qing court to send reinforcements. [No pop-up novel network] - Although Hilgen himself doesn't know whether Kang Mazi can still send troops to Nanchang from there for reinforcements, he can't order Zhao Yue and Xi Bu to abandon Nanchang City, right?

On the night of March 28, Zhao Yue, Xu Zhen and other Qing army generals were ordered to abandon Nankang City, abandon all useless baggage, and under the cover of night, led the remnants of the army to retreat to Nanchang overnight. Lu Fatzi, who had been paying close attention to the movements of the Qing army in Nankang, although he was unable to pursue the remnants of the Qing army with all his strength due to various reasons such as Hilgen's containment, army exhaustion and huge ammunition consumption, he refused to miss this opportunity to beat the water dogs, and sent Wang Xu and Gao Hongchen to lead 6,000 cavalry to chase and kill. And catch up with the Qing army near De'an, although Zhao Yue personally led the elite soldiers, but the morale has been depressed, the army has no fighting spirit, was defeated by Wang Xu and Gao Hongchen together, the soldiers lost more than two thousand, until they escaped the Xiushui River, met the rescuers sent by Xi Bu from Nanchang, only to get rid of the pursuit, Gao Hongchen and Wang Xu soldiers did not dare to advance too lightly, and could only stop at the Xiushui River, pack up the army and return triumphantly.

On March 30, after determining that Zhao Yue's remnants had withdrawn to Nanchang City, the Qing army on the east bank of Poyang Lake also pulled out the camp and raised troops, and after Hilgen personally led the army to the palace, he withdrew to Anqing by land and water, and the Wu army sent a naval division to pursue, but Hilgen had a good way to govern the army, the army was strictly organized, the forerunner was not scorched, the latter was not afraid, step by step, and slowly retreated, and the Wu army naval division did not have a land army to echo the battle, nor did it seize too good a good opportunity to severely damage the enemy, only sank three Qing warships in the artillery battle, and gave up the pursuit when it was chased to the vicinity of Xiaogu Mountain, Return to Jiujiang Jiaoling.

Strictly speaking, the reason why the Wu army failed to create more glory in the pursuit battle and expand the results again was of course due to objective reasons such as terrain restrictions, army fatigue and huge ammunition consumption, but the main reason was that Lu Fatzi's combat style was conservative and he was unwilling to risk using the main force to pursue and kill the enemy's defeated troops. In this regard, although the generals of the Wu army also had many suggestions, persuading Lu Fatzi to go all out to chase and kill or send troops in advance to block the retreat of the remnants of the Nankang Qing army, but they were all rejected by Lu Fatzi, who had other plans, for various reasons, and sat back and watched this fighter miss in vain.

Lu Fatzi, who has always been cunning as a fox on the battlefield, will sit back and watch the fighter miss, and the generals of the Wu army are naturally puzzled, but fortunately, the shrewd and cunning image that Lu Fatzi has established for a long time has played a role, even Gao Dejie, Han Daren and Wang Xu, the old men of Wu Jun who are full of words in the fat army, did not show dissatisfaction, and they all thought that Lu Fatzi's move must have a deep meaning, and he must be brewing some bad idea of black smoke from the ancestral tomb of the lack of virtue, so he deliberately let the enemy go - this is the truth, However, what these old Wu Jun old men probably never dreamed of was that Lu Fatzi's move was not only calculating the enemy, but also secretly calculating the friendly army!

If you don't chase after the poor and brave, you would rather be a famous overlord, and the faintness of the fat man is not useless, at least the fat army has won enough rest time from top to bottom, and there is enough time to treat the wounded soldiers and reorganize the troops. At the same time, after the defeat of the Qing army, Liao Wenying, the prefect of Nankang, who was quite famous, was afraid that the Wu army would wash the city and harm the people, and also took the initiative to lead the military officials under his rule to Jiujiang City to ask for surrender, and took the initiative to submit the household registration list of the table.

On the second day of the first month of April, Wang Shaobo, who had been sent back to Wuchang Mansion by Lu Fatzi on business as early as before the decisive battle in northern Jiangxi, finally returned to Jiujiang and brought a baggage transport team composed of ordinary civilian ships to Lu Fatzi, and Lu Fatzi personally went to the dock to greet him. After the meeting, the sycophant Wang Shaobo had to pat himself in front of Lu Fatzi, wishing Lu Fatzi a victory in northern Jiangxi, but Lu Fatzi was not happy, just looked at the baggage fleet brought by Wang Shaobo in a daze - and the reason, naturally, the baggage fleet brought back by Wang Shaobo was too small, there were only twenty-one ordinary medium-sized cargo ships, even if they were all fully loaded, how many heavy firearms could the fat army be loaded?

"The owner, this is the list of baggage that the students escorted back this time, please take a look at it." Seeing that Lu Fatzi's expression was not good, Wang Shaobo hurriedly presented the list with both hands, and cautiously asked Lu Fatzi to look at it.

"Two thousand two hundred rockets, two thousand grenades, one thousand five hundred flowering shells, eight thousand five hundred sub-pack shells, three thousand three hundred pounds of three good explosives, and ...... alcohol incendiary bombs, only 800 pieces?" Reading the key numbers on the list, Fat Lu's brows were almost twisted into a Sichuan character, and his fat face was full of disappointment, and he asked weakly for a while: "Why is it so much?" ”

"Back at the owner's house, the students have done their best." Wang Shaobo lowered his head and said helplessly: "It's not that the second prince deliberately embarrassed the owner, the students saw with their own eyes, nearly half of this batch of baggage was taken out by the second prince from his own army. The second prince asked the student to tell the owner that he had also tried his best, but now our Great Zhou army is attacking from six directions, and each army is desperately consuming firearms, and no matter how hard the Ji Ji Mountain battalion works overtime, it can't keep up with such a huge consumption rate. As for the alcohol incendiary bombs, because the camp of Ji Ji Mountain was really busy, and our main battlefield did not need it, so ......, it would have been discontinued a long time ago. ”

"When's the next resupply?" Fat Lu asked with a strong spirit.

"The second prince doesn't know either." Wang Shaobo replied even more helplessly: "According to the second prince, the prince surrounded the main force of Shaanxi and Gansu in Baoning, and now the war to annihilate the main force of Shaanxi and Gansu has reached the most critical stage, and the rescuers of Tong Guogang are desperately rushing to the battlefield to reinforce, and our Jingzhou army was ordered to go north to block and buy time for the prince to annihilate the main force of Shaanxi and Gansu, and has done it with Tong Guogang and Mangou." Therefore, the Ji Ji Mountain battalion is now giving priority to supplying our Jingzhou army, and when our East Route Army will be able to get the next batch of supplies, even the second prince doesn't know. ”

"Damn, this bit of ammunition is not enough for Lao Tzu to fight another decisive battle in northern Jiangxi!" Fat Lu scolded sullenly, and helplessly patted Wang Shaobo on the shoulder and comforted: "But it's okay, it's better to have this batch of baggage than nothing, so that our notoriously stingy and greedy second prince can squeeze out his own baggage to help us, and you are amazing, and you have made a great contribution to our army." ”

"Students don't dare to take credit, it's all the owner's material like a god." Wang Shaobo hurriedly slapped his ass again, and said with a flattering smile: "Thanks to the owner who understands our second prince, and asked the students to give the second prince all the treasures collected by our army from Jiujiang City, the second prince is so generous to take out his equipment to help our army." Otherwise, if you want to pluck the hair from our second prince of iron rooster, the student doesn't have that ability yet. ”

Lu Fatzi smiled bitterly, and did not take a stubble, but ordered the soldiers to unload the baggage brought by Wang Shaobo and transport it into Jiujiang City for careful storage. Wang Shaobo observed his words and saw that Lu Fatzi was always sullen, obviously still worried that the supply of ammunition was far from catching up with the consumption, so he cautiously suggested: "The owner, in fact, the students think that you don't have to worry about the supply of our firearms, the new firearms that our army relies on to run rampant all over the world, are not from the hands of the owner?" Since the rear of our army cannot guarantee the supply of firearms to our army, why don't we build another firearms battalion in the northern Jiangxi region to produce them for our own use, and then get rid of this trouble? ”

"Stupid words!" Lu Fatzi rarely spoke harshly to Wang Shaobo, and shouted in a low voice: "You asked me to build another firearms battalion in northern Jiangxi to get rid of my army's dependence on the rear, so what does the prince think of me?" What do you think I want to do? I'm afraid that the firearms camp has just broken ground and laid the foundation, and the king's decree to transfer me back to the rear has already been sent to the door, right?! ”

Wang Shaobo shrank his head, and then remembered that there was a cunning and suspicious Wu Laohan on Lu Fatzi's head, and the Fat Man's Army had not completely gotten rid of Wu Laohan's control and command, if Lu Fatzi really dared to build his own firearms battalion on the land of northern Jiangxi bordering the Wu Army's controlled territory, and set up his own door to get rid of Wu Laohan's control, I was afraid that without waiting for the Qing Dynasty to send another army south to suppress it, Wu Laohan's 60,000 reserve army left in Wuchang and Yuezhou had already rushed to the door, and the first sentence would ask, "The surname Lu, What do you want to do?! ”

After counting the firearms brought by Wang Shaobo and putting them into storage, Lu Fatzi bought a table of wine banquet for Wang Shaobo in the courtyard where he lived, and Gao Dejie, Han Daren, Wang Xu and Li Guodong, four heavy generals of the Fat Army, were also invited to attend and wash the dust for Wang Shaobo together. During the banquet, Gao Dejie, Han Daren and others had to ask Wang Shaobo about their return to Wuchang this time, and they were extremely concerned about how many crucial new firearms Wang Shaobo brought back to the Fat Army this time, Lu Fatzi thought about it again, and finally showed the list of firearms brought back by Wang Shaobo, and after reading this list, Gao Dejie and Han Daren and the other four inevitably gasped, and asked in unison: "Why is it so much?" ”

"No way, the students have done their best, and the second prince has also done his best." Wang Shaobo had no choice but to re-explain the situation with a sad face, and as a result, the four generals of Gao Han and Li were silent again.

"Brother Lu, it seems that our plan to go down the river and capture Jiangnan can only be shelved temporarily." After a long time, Gao Dejie said weakly: "The supply of firearms can't keep up, and the troops are not enough, what can you fight?" ”

"With such a little baggage, I'm afraid it's only enough for us to take Anqing and Nanchang at most, and if we want to take a step east, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult." Han Daren also frowned.

"I'm not sure if I attack Anqing." Wang Xu's surname was calm and careful, and he reminded: "After our army defeated the old thief of Hilgen, Prince Jieshu of Mangou Kang, who was stationed in Luzhou, must divide his troops to the south to help defend Anqing City. ”

"General Wang is right, the only important town that our army is sure to take now is Nanchang, and there is hope to take Anqing, but it is not very certain." Li Guodong echoed.

After that, everyone turned their eyes to Lu Fatzi's fat face, but Lu Fatzi remained silent, as if he hadn't heard the words of a few important accomplices who lost their fighting spirit, and after a long time, Lu Fatzi smiled, and smiled at Gao Dejie: "Brother Dajie, you are really so surprising to my brother, the phrase 'what to fight', I am not surprised if anyone says it, why do you say this?" Could it be that Brother Dajie, when there were no new firearms, Brother Dajie, you followed the prince, how did you fight all the way from Shanhaiguan to Myanmar? ”

"Brother Lu has learned that Brother Fool is now lazy and relies too much on firearms." Gao Dejie's rare old face flushed, and he said helplessly: "But this also makes sense, the enemies that the foolish brother followed the prince to fight back then, the firearms were not strong, but now it is different, although the firearms on the Mangou side are far inferior to ours, but they are far more than the enemies that the foolish brother encountered back then, and the old tactics in the past are not so effective." ”

Speaking of this, Gao Dejie had a wit, and he also suggested: "Brother Lu, then let's take Nanchang first, take northern Jiangxi as the rear, and then build a firearms battalion, and make our own firearms for our own use, anyway, the new firearms we use are all built by you, can you still build them again?" ”

"General Gao, this is no joke." Han Daren said cautiously: "The new firearms are the treasure of our army, even if it is the prince's son-in-law, General Xia, his own nephew just quietly entered the firearms camp and wanted to steal a few grenades to hunt, after being captured on the spot, the prince did not force General Xia to do it himself and beheaded his nephew with his own hands!" Without the permission of the prince, we built our own firearms camp and built new firearms by ourselves. ”

Gao Dejie, who had been with Wu Laohan for the longest time, stopped talking, and Wang Xu and Li Guodong didn't dare to talk, since ancient times, this kind of thing is indeed the most taboo dangerous thing. And Lu Fatzi also said: "Brother Dajie, General Han is right this time, as the courtiers of the prince, it is best not to think about such a thing, let alone do it." ”

Gao Dejie nodded silently, admitting that Fat Lu and Han Daren were reasonable. Wang Xu said again: "General, the main mission given to us by the prince is to bite the Manchu dog in northern Jiangxi, ensure the safety of the rear of Biyuan, and then seek an opportunity to capture Jiangnan." Then let's simply give up the plan to capture Jiangnan for the time being, first take Nanchang with the greatest grasp, casually deal with the army of General Xia of General Xia, and help General Xia to open up the land connection with Geng Jingzhong first, and wait for the prince to annihilate the main force of Shaanxi and Gansu full of dogs, and finally it is not too late to plot Jiangnan. ”

"The Admiral agrees." Li Guodong echoed: "The blessing of the dog Zhangtai, the grain and grass in Jiujiang City are enough for us to support more than half a year, and after half a year, the farmland in the west of northern Jiangxi can also be harvested and put into the warehouse, and we don't have to worry about grain and grass." It is better to capture Nanchang first, ensure the safety of the rear of Biyuan, and by the way, seize the time to build more warships and train more sailors, so as to lay the foundation for the prince to move eastward in the future. ”

If it were replaced by other Wu Laohan annihilation lackeys, it is likely that Wang Xu and Li Guodong's prudent suggestions would have been adopted, but for Lu Fatzi, who has long been half-hearted, such a safe tactic will undoubtedly cost Lu Fatzi's life - always give Wu Laohan Jian's home care, where to find the opportunity to read independently? So after careful consideration, Fat Lu gritted his teeth and said: "I have a risky tactic, four generals, I wonder if you are interested in hearing it?" ”

"The General, please." The four major generals of the Fat Army replied in unison.

"Regardless of Nanchang, go straight to Anqing!" Lu Fatzi gritted his teeth and said: "Taking advantage of the Anqing full dog is frightened, and the full dog reinforcements have not been reinforced, our army's materials are still able to fight, give up attacking Nanchang, directly cross the lake to the east, and take Anqing in one go!" Anqing fell into the hands of our army, and there was no danger to defend in Jiangnan, and the situation on the battlefield in Jiangnan was extremely beneficial to us! ”

"It's too risky!" The four generals of the Wu army exclaimed together, "Regardless of Nanchang, go directly to Anqing, if Anqing can't be attacked for a long time, Nanchang Mangou will counterattack Jiujiang and cut off our army's food route, won't our army be in danger?" ”

"It's a risk, but I think it's worth the risk!" Lu Fatzi said in a deep voice: "First of all, although our Great Zhou army has won many battles and has suffered heavy losses to the main force of Mangou, it is still far from being an opponent of Mangou in terms of manpower, material resources and financial resources!" Let's just say that, as long as Jiangnan is still in the hands of Mangou, Mangou can endlessly form a new army, build new ships, cast new weapons, and drive to the front line endlessly, consuming our precious troops, financial and material resources little by little, the longer it drags on, the more beneficial it will be to Mangou, and the more unfavorable it will be to us! If we don't get rid of the cornucopia of the south of the Yangtze River, no matter how many victories our Great Zhou army wins, it will be exhausted by ten times or even a hundred times the manpower, material and financial resources of the full dogs! ”

"Secondly! Now is our best chance to capture Jiangnan, most of the main force of Mangou in Anqing has been wiped out, and the remaining army may have more than enough to protect itself, but the advance and counteroffensive are far from enough! At the same time, because Geng Jingzhong raised troops to echo our army, the main army arranged in the south of the Yangtze River has been poured south, Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang (Shanghai) and Tongzhou, which are fat and oily, are actually extremely empty! According to my estimates, the combined strength of the defenders in these places will definitely not exceed 20,000! As long as our army captures Anqing and takes this territory, it will be easy! ”

"Third! Mangou has no time to react and adjust now, our army ended the decisive battle in northern Jiangxi on March 26, even if Mangou uses 800 miles to expedite the horse, now the news is at most only sent to the Mangou Emperor, and when Mangou orders to adjust the defense, the Mangou army around Jiangnan responds, no matter how fast it is, it will take 20 days to a month, plus the time spent on the march and transfer of the Mangou army, we have at least a month, we can be in the Jiangnan battlefield as if no one's land! Such an opportunity is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and if you miss it, there will be no second time! ”

Finally, when Fat Man Lu finished speaking, the four major generals of the Fat Army all opened their mouths wide, and they were all stunned by Fat Lu's ambition and courage. After a pause, Fat Lu said: "Four generals, please think about it, if we take Jiangnan, then do we still have to worry about food, grass and military salaries?" Do our soldiers still need a meager salary of only a few dollars a month? Do we still have to worry about the shortage of military salaries, food, grass and baggage?! ”

"Four generals, rich and dangerous." Fat Lu's voice suddenly became cold, and he said in a very inflammatory voice: "Please think about it, if our tactics are successful, what should we be fat?" What will we become? Will our children and grandchildren still need to spend their money and food? Silver, jewelry, fertile land, beautiful women, what do we want? ”

When they thought of the money and food beauties after conquering Jiangnan, Gao Dejie, Han Daren, Wang Xu and Li Guodong, who were not good things, were inevitably itchy and had dry throats. After thinking carefully for a long time, Gao Dejie said in a hoarse voice: "Brother Lu, your idea is good, but there are three problems, how do you solve them?" ”

"Brother Dajie, do you want to ask about the grain road, time and retreat, these three questions?" Fat Lu asked.

Gao Dejie nodded and said in a low voice: "Brother Lu is really clever, Brother Fool is indeed asking these three questions, first, how to solve our grain road problem?" Second, what if An Qing can't attack it for a long time? Third, even if we defeat Jiangnan, what should we do if we can't hold it? Where to retreat? ”

"In my opinion, these three problems are not a problem at all!" Fat Lu gritted his teeth and said, "The first grain road problem, what grain road do we want?" When Zhu Di went from Yanjing to Nanjing in one go, what kind of grain did he come from? You don't know how rich Jiangnan is, won't we solve the problem of grain and grass on the spot? ”

Speaking of this, Lu Fatzi added in a yin voice, "And I have already thought about it, I will send a letter to General Xia Guoxiang tonight, telling him that we have beaten the Mangou in Nanchang almost to the fullest, and invite him to divide an army and take Nanchang with us!" You also know General Xia's temper, as long as there is a advantage to take advantage of, he will definitely attack Nanchang with all his might, and with him to help us contain Nanchang Mangou, do we still need to worry about Nanchang Mangou counterattacking Jiujiang? ”

"Makes sense." Gao Dejie nodded, and then lowered his voice and asked, "What about the time?" If we can't attack Anqing City for a long time, and the Mangou army readjusts and blocks the hole in Jiangnan, what should we do? ”

"Then we won't fight Anqing! Hit Nanjing directly! Lu Fatzi waved his fat hand categorically, gritted his teeth and said: "Since ancient times, from west to east, attacking Nanjing must first attack Anqing, that is to protect the grain road and reinforcements of the reinforcement road, and there is to prevent the general of Anqing garrison from intercepting and killing halfway, now we have no grain road, two no reinforcements, three are not afraid of full dogs out of the city to fight, Anqing does not fight, in fact, it is the same!" Mangou really dares to go out of the city to chase and kill, kill them in the field, and then turn back to attack the city, Anqing and Jiangnan are still in our pocket! ”

Gao Dejie, Han Daren, Wang Xu and Li Guodong looked at each other, and they all felt that Lu Fatzi's words were crazy to the extreme, but they felt quite reasonable, not completely empty words, but with great possibility of implementation. After hesitating for a long time, Han Daren asked tremblingly, "General, what about the third question?" We took Jiangnan, what if we can't hold it? ”

"Four generals, you all seem to have forgotten one person, right?" Fat Lu asked slowly: "We have entered Jiangnan, can the old brother surnamed Zheng in Taiwan still sit still?" With them to respond, as long as we occupy a city along the river or along the coast, we can attack and retreat and defend, and we are afraid that there is no way to retreat? ”

Gao Dejie, Han Daren, Wang Xu and Li Guodong slapped the table and sighed together, admitting that they had indeed forgotten Brother Zheng Jing, with Brother Zheng Jing's personality and bitter hatred for the Qing Dynasty, after receiving the news that the Wu army had invaded Jiangnan, it would definitely rush into Jiangnan by sea like chicken blood, and it would definitely not be discounted at all! With the invincible Taiwanese sailors on the water, even if they can't hold the south of the Yangtze River, they can retreat by sea, and by then they will have already made a lot of money, and they are afraid that they will have no food and clothing for the rest of their lives?

"There's another piece of news, and I won't hide it from you." Fat Lu said solemnly: "Do you remember Li Ya? I have arranged for him to lead a team of elite soldiers, disguised as an ordinary merchant to go to Nanjing first, in the most difficult city in the south of the Yangtze River, there is a dog and a heavy minister is my good friend, I have a life-saving grace for him, so he obeys my words, I sent Li Ya to contact him, is to let him prepare, and when our army is killed under the city of Nanjing, he will - open the city gate! ”

"Really?" Gao Dejie and other four generals were all bright-eyed, and their hearts began to be ecstatic, Nanjing is definitely the strongest city in the south of the Yangtze River, the city defense is strong and the money and food are sufficient, if the army occupies this city, it can really be attacked and retreated on the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Brother Dajie, General Han, General Li, General Wang, brother, I like to play scheming, but those are all scheming against the enemy." Lu Fatzi said sincerely: "Please ask yourself, brother, since I fought side by side with you, have I done anything to be sorry for you?" Uttered a word that deceived you? ”

Gao Dejie and the others nodded slowly, admitting that Lu Fatzi was indeed very kind to his friends and brothers, and would rather suffer losses himself than let his friends and brothers suffer. After thinking about it for a long time, Gao Dejie gritted his teeth and said: "Everyone, let's take a stand, Brother Lu's tactics, will we do it?" ”

Wang Xu, Han Daren and Li Guodong were silent, and after a while, Han Daren slapped the table and shouted categorically: "Wealth is in danger, and the head has a big scar, I'll do it!" ”

"Fighting Jiangnan is also for the prince, for the prince, I will do it." Wang Xu nodded.

"As long as it is to kill the dogs, oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and prosper the Han Dynasty and destroy the Manchurians, I am willing to gamble." Li Guodong said.

"I agree." Gao Dejie nodded, turned to Fat Lu and said, "Brother Lu, we can accompany you to bet on this, but you have to promise us one thing!" No matter how hard it is in the future, even if it is at the moment of life and death when the whole army is annihilated, you can't do anything to be sorry for the prince, let alone bend your knees to the dog, otherwise, I will be the first to let you go! ”

"Brother, if I would bow my knees to Mangou, then I would already be Mangou's Six Books by now." Lu Fatzi stretched out a fat hand and said solemnly: "Please let the four generals testify, if Lu Yifeng does something that is sorry for the prince, then please don't be polite to the four generals, Lu Yifeng has eight and a half pounds on his neck, please take it!" ”

Gao Dejie nodded, and also stretched out a right hand and pressed it on Lu Fatzi's fat hand, and then Han Daren, Wang Xu and Li Guodong also stretched out their right hands together and pressed on Lu Fatzi and Gao Dejie's hands, and the five dirty black hands were tightly clenched together!

(To be continued)