Tuhai planted trees, Zhangtai enjoyed the shade, and the unlucky one was Xia Guoxiang, but the real beneficiary was Lu Fatzi who watched the fire from the other side. With the forced withdrawal of Xia Guoxiang, who lost troops and ran out of food, grass and firearms, the first major crisis after the Fat Army got rid of the direct control of Wu Lao Han finally passed, for a long time, the Fat Army can not worry about the secret threat from the suzerain of their own family, and the old men of the Wu Army within the Fat Army do not have to face the problem of standing in line and are divided, they can unite and work together to directly threaten the Qing Army and Geng Jingzhong's army, and all kinds of pressure on Lu Fatzi have also been greatly reduced - after all, the open gun is easy to block, Dark arrows are the most difficult to defend against.

At this point, the chaotic situation around the Fat Army was basically clear, and the 120,000 troops led by Yue Le were entrenched north of the Yellow River in Huai'an Mansion, north of Yangzhou, threatening Yangzhou Mansion, the northern gate of the Fat Army; The three Qing armies of Jieshu, Niyahan and Hilgen on the Western Front were stationed in Chuzhou, Tongling and Anqing respectively, with a total strength of about 110,000, but because of the need to defend the city and guard against Wu Yingqi, Shang Zhixin and Geng Jingzhong, the army that could really be put into the Jiangnan battlefield was only seventy percent at most.

The situation on the southern front of the Fat Army is more complicated, the four forces of the Fat Army, Geng Jingzhong's Army, Zheng Jingjun and Zhejiang Qing Army have a total strength of more than 100,000 troops, but they are locked with each other, one is holding back the other, and the first one is most likely to be unlucky, so the four forces are trying to maintain restraint, and they are all looking forward to the other three fighting one to the death, and then come out to pick up the bargain themselves. Although the Fat Army is surrounded by enemies in the eye of the storm, it relies on the dangers of rivers, mountains and lakes, the elite soldiers, and also relies on the land where the essence of the world's wealth is held, with abundant food and abundant products.

In the face of such a situation, Lu Fatzi, who holds the unlimited potential of the world's granary Huaxia Silver Treasury, of course hopes that the later the decisive battle, the better, and use time to drag down the finances of the Qing Dynasty on the verge of collapse, and also drag down Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing, who are absolutely lacking in stamina. Therefore, despite having a good chance of winning, Lu Fatzi still rationally maintained restraint and ordered the four major legions not to take the initiative to attack, and to defend the territory and consume time, it was a victory! Enemies from all sides can come if they want, fat man, my strong city weapon is waiting for you! The wolves and hungry tigers around you are also waiting for you to leave the lair!

Also in the face of such a situation, but also in the face of Lu Fatzi's shameless tactics of the turtle not coming out, Lu Fatzi's unlucky opponents are all in a hurry to jump to their feet, the offense has no chance of winning, and the biggest hope is that Lu Fatzi takes the initiative to attack and look for a chance to win in a more confident defensive battle, or is it to expect others to be the first bird to be pawns, first consume part of Lu Fatzi's strength and then come out to pick up the cheap, but is there such a good thing in this world? Is there such a fool in the world to be a pawn and a dead ghost to block the muzzle of the fat man?

Or the newly crowned King of Baojun Zhangtai is such a fool, but unfortunately after he restored the position of General An Yuan Jingkou, he still led only more than 30,000 troops in Anqing, too far away from Lu Fatzi, and he couldn't fight if he wanted to, and although Prince Zhang's father should die, the more than 30,000 Qing soldiers under his command were innocent, and Yue Le couldn't bear to let these innocent soldiers accompany Prince Zhang's funeral.

So there was no way, Prince An Yue Le had no choice but to focus on Geng Jingzhong, who had recently turned his face with Fat Lu, hoping that he could start a war with Fat Lu first and consume part of Fat Lu's strength. And our Jingnan King Geng Jingzhong Geng Wang Ye has also personally led 20,000 soldiers and horses, and arrived at Yiwu County, Jinhua Prefecture, which Geng Jun had recently occupied, on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, ready to personally command the Northern Route Army to fight for Jiangnan with Lu Fatzi, and use Jiangnan's abundant money and grain to completely make up for the financial shortcomings of the self-army. - By the way, among the three feudatories, the poorest is this Geng Wangye.

Arrived at Yiwu County, where the main force of the Geng Army's North Route Army is located, just learned about the specific situation in northern Zhejiang, Geng Jingzhong's ass has not yet been hot, Yue Le's secret envoy has already come to the obligation, about Geng Jingzhong sent troops to join forces with the Zhejiang Qing Army to attack Lu Fatzi and Liu Guoxuan, after the matter was completed, Yue Le gave the entire territory of Zhejiang to Geng Jingzhong, and tried his best to urge Kang Mazi to allow Geng Jingzhong to be the emperor and share the world with Geng Jingzhong. However, Geng Wangye is not a fool, while continuing this relationship with Yue Lexu and the snake, he sent an envoy to Nanjing, apologized to Lu Fatzi and asked Lu Fatzi to provide grain, grass and military salaries, so that his army could attack Shaoxing and Ningbo, pull out the last nail of the Qing army in Zhejiang, and actively prepare for war, ready to send troops to the north at any time.

Geng Wang Ye is not stupid, our Lu Sanhao is not a fool, when Geng Jingzhong's envoy arrived in Nanjing again, the news that Xia Guoxiang was miraculously beaten away by Zhangtai Bei Ziye has reached Nanjing, and his heart is settled, Lu Fatzi naturally has no good face for Geng Jingzhong's envoy, not only refuses Geng Jingzhong's apology, but also categorically refuses Geng Jingzhong's request for money and food, and insists that his pure heart has been hurt too much by Geng Jingzhong's envoy Huang Kun, and he has no intention of extending the alliance with Geng Jingzhong, unless Geng Jingzhong first takes Ningbo and Shaoxing. Kill all the remnants of the Qing army entrenched there, otherwise Lu Fatzi will never consider renewing the alliance with Geng Jingzhong!

In addition, Lu Fatzi also sent a messenger to his eldest brother Shang Zhixin even more shamelessly, asking his eldest brother to uphold justice for himself, send troops to Fujian to avenge his little wife, and attack Geng Jingzhong's hometown Fuzhou Mansion. Of course, after Fat Lu's letter was delivered to Shang Zhixin, he was immediately blown by the eldest prince -! You, a little fat man, dumped my old and decrepit sister, married a young and beautiful little vixen, and want my eldest brother to send troops to avenge your little vixen? Are you the second when your eldest brother?

Of course, Lu Fatzi's reply was expected by Geng Jingzhong, but in view of the complicated situation in northern Zhejiang, Geng Jingzhong did not immediately send troops to join forces with Lu Fatzi, but sent an envoy to contact Yue Le and put forward a joint condition to Yue Le, that is, the Zhejiang Qing army must defeat the city of Hangzhou where Liu Guoxuan is entrenched, and then lend Lin'an County and Changhua County in Hangzhou to Geng Jingzhong, and Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le will join forces to beat Lu Fatzi!

Geng Jingzhong also knew that it was difficult for Yue Le to agree to his conditions, but Geng Jingzhong didn't care, Geng Jingzhong's biggest purpose in this letter was to tell Yue Le, I, the prince of Jingnan, am not stupid, if you don't show sincerity, I will never join forces with you, let alone be a bird for you to replace the dead ghost, and Lu Fatzi will fight you to the death and let Yue Le choose a bargain, if you don't do it first, I will never do it. So as long as this letter is delivered to Yue Le, Prince Geng's purpose will be achieved.

Because the center was tightly controlled by the Fat Army, Geng Jingzhong's envoy could only make a detour from the sea or from Jiangxi and Anhui to deliver the letter to Yue Le. But at this time, an unexpected situation almost broke the deadlock situation in which various forces were holding each other back and restricting each other - Chen Junen, the governor of Jiangpu County, Nanjing Prefecture, reported to Lu Fatzi that Prince Jieshu, who had moved to Chuzhou, sent 3,000 troops to rob the second town of Donggexige, north of the Chuhe River in Jiangpu County, and used this as a base for advancement, disturbed and destroyed the spring ploughing in Jiangpu County, and wantonly hunted down and killed the people of Jiangpu County who had cut their braids and grown their hair!

Originally, the two small towns with a combined population of less than 500 households were not trivial at all, and it was not distressing to lose Lu Fatzi, but in this spring ploughing season that was crucial to the year's plan, the Qing army even came to sabotage and obstruct the spring ploughing of the people of Jiangpu, wanting to make the people of Jiangpu hungry in the coming year.

"Troops! Troops now! Fat Lu slapped the table, and shouted with a fat face: "Let Quan Jie lead the army of 5,000 to cross the river, go to Jiangpu County for reinforcements, and kill the full dogs there!" Completely scared Chuzhou Mangou, so that Chuzhou Mangou would not dare to dream of the land of Nanjing! ”

"General, please calm your anger." Yao Qisheng opened his mouth and said: "It is indeed hateful for the dog to disturb the border of our army and sabotage the spring ploughing of our army, and we must also build this momentum of the dog." But the students think that since they want to fight, then don't fight small, just fight, fight with the full dog Jieshu, and pull out this nail stuck in our stomach! ”

"The military advisor is reasonable, I agree." Wang Shaobo echoed: "Chuzhou is surrounded by mountains, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is only a hundred miles away from Nanjing, the main city of our army, which always threatens the security of Nanjing, so it is better to send troops to attack it as soon as possible, and use this place as a buffer to protect the safety of our army's Nanjing." In the future, dogs will attack from all sides, and our army will be able to calmly meet the battle. ”

"Wrong, it's for the future, so I haven't gone to Chuzhou until now." Lu Fatzi shook his head and said with a smile: "Chuzhou is indeed a dangerous terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, if we don't pull out this nail, our hinterland of Nanjing will not be peaceful, but because of this, I am not in a hurry to take Chuzhou, and continue to leave this military important place to Mangou." ”

"Why?" Yao Qisheng asked in surprise with Wang Shaobo and the others.

"Of course, it is for more full dogs to take the initiative to send them to the door to die." Fat Lu grinned, beckoned Yao Qisheng and others to the map sand table, pointed to the sand table and said: "Look at the Mangou banner on the sand table, in addition to the big overseas in the east, Mangou has actually surrounded us from the northwest and south, that is, the strategic encirclement has been completed, but why does Mangou not dare to attack until now?" The biggest reason is Yue Le, the commander-in-chief of the Mangou Army! ”

"Yue Le knows very well that the current Mangou army is no longer our opponent in terms of quality and weapons, and there is almost no chance of winning in both field and siege battles, and there are only two hopes, one is for our rebels to kill each other, and the other is to hope that our army will take the initiative to attack, and hope that our army will take the initiative to attack after revealing flaws. In this case, if I send heavy troops to attack Chuzhou, then it will be Yue Le's second hope come true, Chuzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are 30,000 defenders of Jieshu, once the war progresses unfavorably, Geng Jingzhong behind us may immediately take the opportunity to attack! In this way, Yue Le's first wish has also been fulfilled, and we may be able to expose our flaws! ”

"I see." Yao Qisheng nodded, and said suddenly: "It turns out that the general wants to respond to all changes with the same, insist on taking a defensive position, let the full dog make the first move, and show flaws in the movement, and then our army will strike later." ”

"There are two more reasons." Lu Fatzi raised two fat fingers and said quietly: "First, the consumption of the dog's national strength, Chuzhou is surrounded by mountains, the grain production is not abundant, Jieshu's 30,000 troops all rely on Luzhou and Fengyang from the land supply, transportation is inconvenient and the road consumption is amazing, although Anhui is also a grain production area, but the military food supply of Fengyang and Lushan combined, is not as good as Yangzhou Mansion, which has the smallest military food supply in the territory controlled by our army, and Suzhou Mansion, which we supply the most military food, is only one-tenth of Suzhou!" In the long run, Jieshu was difficult to support, and he inevitably tried to break the deadlock and take the initiative. In addition, all the grain from Luzhou and Fengyang was supplied to Chuzhou, and Yue Le did not want to transfer grain from Anhui to maintain it. ”

"Second, Mangou has completed the strategic encirclement of our army, and Jieshu has resisted our chest and abdomen like a sharp knife, the situation is favorable to Mangou, and the Mangou Imperial Court will inevitably urge Yue Le to march again, Yue Le will also feel pressure, after a long time, even if Yue Le wants to persist any longer, the Mangou Imperial Court will not agree. When the time comes, the Mangou Emperor will either force Yue Le to send troops, force Yue Le to show his flaws, or ....... ”

"Either it's the Emperor Mangou's personal expedition!" Wang Shaobo said the long-awaited wish for Lu Fatzi, and then said: "The student understands, the owner wants to give the Mangou Emperor a little hope, and let him force the main force of Mangou to take the initiative to attack. If Yue Le didn't listen to the Mangou Emperor, the Mangou Emperor would naturally have to consider the Imperial Expedition again. ”

"It's good to understand!" Lu Fatzi nodded vigorously, and said with a cruel smile: "One more point, what are you talking about Chuzhou is a sharp knife against our army's heart, in my opinion, it is simply a joke, the full dog Jieshu doesn't even have a ferry, what do you use to cross the river to fight my Nanjing?" Since this knife can't threaten us at all, it's better to leave him there to rust and let him empty the last of the dog's national strength! Also leave a final thought for the Emperor of the Full Dogs! ”

Yao Qisheng and others saw that Lu Fatzi had made up his mind, so they no longer insisted, but immediately began to prepare for the Quanjie 5,000 troops to attack to drive away the Jieshu army that threatened the border of Jiangpu County, and at the same time Yao Qisheng proposed to let the Quanjie capture Liutang Mountain, the only way from Chuzhou to Jiangpu, and build a fortress there to choke Jieshu's southward road, so that the garrison could hold on for a long time.

……………………

The amount of military rations that Lu Fatzi said is actually the amount of grain levied, which is not completely accurate, because of various restrictions on climate, environment, population and water conservancy, the grain produced by Fengyang Mansion in Anhui Province can only take out 60,000 stone of grain every year to supply the Qing court, and Luzhou only has 10,000 stones. In the state capital controlled by Lu Fatzi, except for the grain produced in the Taiping Mansion at the West Gate, all the grain produced in the Taiping Mansion at the West Gate is left in the place, Nanjing Mansion can supply Lu Fatzi with 130,000 stone of military rations a year, Changzhou is 175,000 stones, Zhenjiang is 102,000 stones, and the least Yangzhou Mansion is also 97,000 stones, as for Suzhou Mansion, it is not as exaggerated as Fengyang and Luzhou combined for ten times and 700,000 stones - only 697,000 stones! At this time, friends should understand why Fat Lu has the confidence to consume the Qing army, right?

In any case, Lu Fatzi's tactics of not coming out of the turtle really hit the soft underbelly of the Mites Qing court and the Mite Qing army, the western and southern fronts are better, the grain is barely self-sufficient, and the northern front is so miserable that it can't be more miserable, the 120,000 army is all supported by Zhili Shandong, which is not enough to eat, and Huai'an is unable to provide grain and grass support for Yue Le's army because of the diversion of the Yellow River to flood the fertile land, and every grain and horse grass eaten in Yue Le's army must be transported from the rear of a poor and white, how can it be obtained in the long run? The Qing court urged Yue Le to march three times, and the main and deputy commanders Yue Le and Dong Weiguo were so anxious that their lips foamed, but there was nothing they could do.

On the tenth day of the first month of February, the monk Tuhai returned to Yue Le's camp in the north of the Qing River in Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu, and by the way, he also brought Yue Le a thousand catties of three-good explosives and a batch of detonators that he had obtained from Zhangtai Bei Ziye, of course, from the hands of Xia Guoxiang. As soon as he limped into the camp to meet Yue Legang, Tu Hai immediately couldn't wait to ask: "Lord Wang, is there any change in Lu Yifeng's Yangzhou legion?" Did you go north? ”

Yue Le smiled bitterly, and replied after a while: "20,000 Mongolian cavalry crossed the river and entered Huai'an Mansion, and went south to Baoying nine times to challenge, Baoying Wu Dog is closed without fighting, and Gao Dejie's anti-thief has never even been to Gaoyou, looking at the appearance, Lu Yifeng's dog thief is determined to force the main force of this king to cross the river for a decisive battle." ”

"What about the imperial court?" Tuhai asked again, "Does the master have a will?" ”

"Of course there is." Yue Le said with a wry smile: "During the time you left, the master has already come with twelve holy decrees, and his tone is more and more severe than the other, all of which are forcing our army to cross the river and go south to fight Wu Gou. ”

"If there is a chance of winning, even if there is a certainty of two or three percent, we still need to be urged by the master?" Tu Hai sighed, but he was also helpless about the current situation.

"Lord An, it can't go on like this." Shang Shan frowned and said: "Xia Guoxiang's dog thief was beaten away by Zhangtai's idiot shit luck, Lu Yifeng's dog thief has no biggest threat, he must be holding back enough strength to consume us, if we continue to stand still like this, without Wu Gou's hands, I'm afraid that the spittle stars in the court will drown us." ”

"Not really." Yue Le smiled even more bitterly, "Because before I was drowned by the spitting star, I must have been stripped of my title as a prince a long time ago, relieved of all my duties, and went back to study behind closed doors." ”

Tu Hai and Shang Shan laughed together, but the smile was equally bitter, and in desperation, Shang Shan had to suggest: "Lord Wang, or let's cross the river, the main force crosses the river to fight the main force of Wu Gou, maybe there is still a chance of a star, but if you don't cross the river, there will be no chance at all." ”

"But even if we cross the Yellow River, we still don't have a chance." Yue Le said even more helplessly: "Do you expect Lu Yifeng's dog thief to be as stupid as Xia Guoxiang's dog thief and give us Chizhou the same opportunity?" ”

"That's not necessarily, as long as Lu Yifeng's main force of the dog thieves goes north to fight us, we will have a chance." Shang Shan replied.

"What do you mean?" Yue Le asked suspiciously.

Shang Shan and Tu Hai glanced at each other, and then Shang Shan coughed and said in a low voice: "Lord Wang, Tu Zhongtang and I brought back a thousand catties of Sanhao explosives for you this time, and discussed it on the road, thinking that with the current situation, our only hope for victory may be the Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake." ”

"You want to blow up the dam again and pull up the army of Dejie Wu Dog to bury the Mongol army?" Yue Le asked in a low voice: "This king is already doing this, but Gao Dejie is a dog thief who is not fooled, what can he do?" ”

"Xia Guoxiang's dog thief has withdrawn, Geng Jingzhong is a Adou who can't be helped, I'm afraid it will be difficult to form a strong containment of Lu Yifeng's dog thief, just killing Wu Gou Gao Dejie's corps is not enough to influence the battle situation." Shang Shan lowered his voice and said: "I can't bear the child to trap the wolf, we want to ask the prince to take the risk, and the 120,000 army that Lalu Yifeng dog thieves gave us will be buried together!" ”

"The 120,000 troops that the dog thieves of La Rue gave us to accompany the funeral?" Yue Le almost suspected that his ears had misheard.

Shang Shan nodded, and said in a low voice: "We think so, now that the Xia Guoxiang dog thieves have withdrawn, the pressure on Lu Yifeng's dog thieves' western front has been greatly reduced, if the main force of our southern expeditionary army crosses the Yellow River and goes south, it will quickly advance to the area south of Baoying, and the 120,000 troops will all be used as bait, with Lu Yifeng's dog thief's military habits, he will inevitably personally lead the troops to fight a decisive battle with our army, and we will fight and retreat again, and lure the main force of Lu Yifeng's dog thieves to the vicinity of Huai'an." Then, the Dog Thieves of La Rue and our 120,000 troops perished! ”

"Are you crazy?" Yue Le exclaimed in a low voice, "In order to deal with Lu Yifeng's dog thief and some of his main forces, we actually want to use our 120,000 army to die with him?" ”

"The minions think it's worth it." Tu Hai opened his mouth and said in a low voice: "Jiangnan Wu Dog is headed by Lu Yifeng Dog Thief, and the internal hidden dangers and differences are also very serious, except for Lu Yifeng's Dog Thief, there is no other handsome talent who is enough to order the whole army to be able to serve the public, as soon as Lu Yifeng's dog thief dies, Jiangnan Wu Dog will immediately be torn apart, and our army on the Western Front will have a chance." You know better than anyone what kind of virtue our 120,000-strong army is, and even the remnants of the army collected from Guangdong and Jiangxi under the command of Leer Jin Belle are not as good as the defeated generals, and they are not useful anyway, but they are better to use them to create opportunities for friendly forces. ”

Yue Le was silent, and Shang Shan said: "Lord Wang, in fact, it is said that the 120,000 army and Lu Yifeng's dog thieves will be killed together, but it is just a statement, our casualties will not be so big, first, our 120,000 army must definitely stay in Qingjiang to protect the grain road, second, Huai'an City, which is protected by the city, can be stationed to contain a part of the army, and third, when we lure Lu Yifeng's dog thieves to the north, we can retreat and transfer a part of the army in advance, and our losses will not be so big." ”

"In short, we have to forget about the danger of Gaojiayan ourselves, and let Lu Yifeng's dog thieves think that we don't have the idea of fighting Gaojiayan, but just want to fight him in Yangzhou Mansion." Tu Hai said in a deep voice: "As long as Lu Yifeng's dog thief personally leads his troops north and comes to fight us on the northern front, we will have a chance." Therefore, we have no other way than to take out 120,000 main forces as bait. ”

Yue Le was silent for a long time, and finally hesitated and said: "Anyway, the emperor urged me to cross the river so tightly, it won't work if I don't give the emperor an explanation, then cross the river first and camp at the head of the realm, as for using your tricks, prepare secretly first, and then decide when the situation comes." ”

(To be continued)