Because their own forces could not form a numerical advantage, and at the same time, the Zhenhu army in Yanping City also had 3,000 new troops, and the rest of the auxiliary defense army was much stronger than the Qing army encountered by the third army in the past, so the third army led by Chen Yuntao stopped the large-scale offensive after carrying out a tentative attack when it arrived in Yanping.

This is not that Chen Yuntao does not want to conquer Yanping as soon as possible, but the reality does not allow him to act recklessly, plus Chen Yuntao was originally more cautious in fighting, in order to avoid capsizing in the gutter, Chen Yuntao and the same way of steady and steady fighting, first together with the third gunboat detachment of the navy, completely surrounded Yanping City, trying to fight a long-term siege war.

The Zhenhu army has just occupied Yanping, and has not been operated for a long time, and the grain reserves in the city cannot be maintained for long, so there is no fear that the Zhenhu army will not give in when the time comes.

In addition, Chen Yuntao chose not to launch a general offensive at the first time, because he also wanted to continue to draw more troops to Yanping, and also wanted to get more reinforcements from the headquarters.

In addition, Chen Yuntao was also worried that if his side beat the Zhenhu army hard, it was very likely that the Zhenhu army would be completely forced to the hostile side.

Although the Zhenhu army was separated from the Taiping army, but last year's internal strife in Tianjing, which led to a complete split between Lin Chengting and Shi Dakai, Hong Xiuquan and others.

Later, Lin Chengting sent someone over to try to reach a cooperative relationship with Lin Zhe, although Lin Zhe did not agree at that time, but in order to support Lin Chengting to contain the Taiping Army in Jiangxi, he also sold Lin Chengting some smoothbore guns and even artillery, but this transaction was not interrupted for long. Because as the Chinese army continues to expand its territory.

As a result, the Chinese army and the Zhenhu army had a direct conflict of interest in northern Jiangxi, Fujian, and even Guangdong, so the Zhenhu army became one of the obstacles to the Chinese army's unification of China. In this case, Lin Zhe naturally would not sell arms to Lin Chengting.

However, even so, there is no intention within the current Chinese Empire to destroy the Zhenhu army in a short time. Because now the biggest enemy of the Chinese Empire is not Lin Chengting, or even the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but the Manchu Qing in the north.

Compared with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Zhenhu Army, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was a greater threat to the Chinese Empire, not to mention anything else, just the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been training a new army in recent years is a major threat, hundreds of thousands of Qing troops in the north, tens of thousands of new troops are extremely huge pressure for the Chinese Empire.

Today's Chinese Empire is focused on warfare in the north, and can only be regarded as a secondary front in Fujian and southern Anhui. It is impossible to affect the northern strategy of the Chinese Empire because of the gains and losses on the secondary front.

After the Fourth Army in the direction of southern Anhui entered northern Jiangxi from the direction of southern Anhui, it stopped at Jiujiang, and did not directly cross the mountains and mountains and directly enter the hinterland of Jiangxi.

Under such circumstances, Chen Yuntao had to consider whether his military operations on the Fujian side would affect the strategic arrangements of the entire empire.

Chen Yuntao wrote down his worries into a war report, which was then sent to Nanjing by a steamer from the navy.

After Lin Zhe received Chen Yuntao's battle report, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seems that he was too optimistic in choosing Chen Yuntao as the commander of the Third Army.

He obviously gave Chen Yuntao a very clear order before, that is, to take Fujian, no matter whether the enemy is the Qing army, the Zhenhu army, or other chaotic enemies.

But Chen Yuntao, who was too cautious, still didn't dare to do it at the first time, but sent back the battle report for instructions. If this had been replaced by Xu Yanqing or Shi Qingxuan, it is estimated that Yanping would have been taken down and sent to Lin Zhe directly.

Although it is said that the superior will not like to be subject to the fate of the foreign monarch, in the era of backward communication. Generals who lead troops outside must make their own judgments based on the actual situation, after all, if everything is consulted. There will inevitably be a delay in the fighter.

Looking at the many high-ranking generals of the empire, the most outstanding in this regard is Xu Yanqing.

This man led his troops to fight and never stuck to one pattern. At the beginning of last year, he led the Second Mixed Regiment to attack Zhenjiang and attack Tianjing, led the army to take the whole province of Zhejiang at the end of last year, and led the Fourth Army to attack southern Anhui this year.

Last year, when he led the Second Mixed Regiment to attack Zhenjiang and attack Tianjing, its main force, the Second Mixed Regiment, suffered no more than 200 casualties before and after.

Relatively speaking, although other generals can also lead the army, but not as comprehensive as Xu Yanqing, for example, Shi Langyi, who was regarded as the first general of Yu Shengjun in the past and the number one general under Lin Zhe, has begun to fade out of people's sight since last year, which is of course related to Lin Zhe's deliberate suppression, but it is also related to his combat style that tends to be steady and does not fight uncertain battles.

Commanding a large corps for a decisive battle is the way he is good at fighting, as for long-distance raids or storming fortified positions, etc., he is not good at.

And Shi Qingxuan has to go even better, Shi Qingxuan fights in a decent manner, there are no big mistakes but no surprises, which can be seen from the fact that he led the army to fight in the Jiangbei region.

Fighting a war is completely relying on one's own strength and firepower superiority, and no tactics or anything like that have been used!

In fact, this is not only Shi Qingxuan, in fact, most of the senior generals of the Chinese army, most of the middle and lower-level officers, they lead troops to fight, often more rigidly use the tactics taught in the camp school, and rarely say that they will have a surprising move with Xu Yanqing or Shi Langyi.

And this is also the main characteristic of any army, excellent generals are not so easy to appear, most of them are mediocre generals.

But then again, the combat effectiveness of an army is actually not reflected in a few excellent generals, but in the vast majority of mediocre generals, although mediocre, as long as they can strictly implement the tactics they have learned, then it is not too difficult to lead the army to victory.

Chen Yuntao's cautiousness Lin Zhe knew, although he was dissatisfied with Chen Yuntao's cautiousness, but Lin Zhe didn't intend to blame anything, but directly approved the order, asking Chen Yuntao to take Yanping as soon as possible, take control of Fujian and march into Guangdong.

Although there are some twists and turns, the current military situation of the Chinese Empire is still going in a better and better direction on the whole, and there is no need to worry too much about Fujian and northern Jiangxi, the only thing that needs to be paid attention to is that there are more and more Qing troops in the north.

According to the report of Shen Chiyun of the Fifth Army, there are more and more Qing troops in northern Jiangsu, and it has also been reported that the Qing troops in Shandong, Zhili and other provinces in the north are also continuing to move south, and it is very likely that a larger battle will break out in northern Jiangsu in the future.

In order to prepare for the battle in northern Jiangsu as soon as possible and completely smash the Qing army's attempt to counterattack southward, it was necessary for the Chinese army to end the war in northern Anhui as soon as possible and send the First Army and the Second Army north for reinforcements.

"On the side of the Command, we must also increase our support for the First Army and the Second Army, and take Lu'an and Anqing as soon as possible!" Lin Zhe said to Shi Langyi, chief of the Joint Staff.

Shi Langyi said: "Yesterday, the Military Training Department has sent the latest total of 2,000 recruits to the first division, the second division, and the third division to supplement the reduction of each department in the past month!" ”

Lin Zhe nodded, and then said: "The 10th Division on the Fujian side has not been able to be fully established since it was reorganized, Chen Yuntao has repeatedly asked for the replenishment of soldiers and weapons, although the threat in the north is greater, but the Fujian side cannot relax, you discuss some with the Military Training Department and the Ordnance Department, and supplement Chen Yuntao as appropriate!" ”

Speaking of replenishing troops, Shi Langyi seemed to think of something, and then said: "Your Majesty, a few days ago, I discussed with William of the Military Training Department to see if I could recruit soldiers in places other than Zhejiang Province and Su Songtai Mansion!"

At present, the recruitment of soldiers from the Military Training Department is still limited to a province in Zhejiang and Su Songtai set at the beginning of the year, and although this place has a large population, high-quality soldiers are close to scarcity, and the military training department recruited less than 3,000 soldiers in Zhejiang last month, and Su Songtai is only less than 1,000 people! ”

Lin Zhe said: "Oh, what do you think? ”

"In the opinion of the ministers, the provinces of Jiangsu and the southern Anhui provinces have taken our control for many months, and have initially stabilized the hearts of the people in various places, although there may not be many high-quality soldiers in these places because of the trauma of the past war, but some can still be recruited, and it is still very necessary for the subsequent expansion of our army and the replenishment of attrition!" Shi Langyi said loudly.

Lin Zhe listened and said: "Since you think it is feasible, then take a charter, but you must pay attention to the preference for shortage rather than abuse, and the quality of the soldiers must be guaranteed!" ”

Since the time of Yu Shengjun, the vast majority of the soldiers of the Chinese army have been recruited from Zhejiang, and later part of it was also recruited in Songjiang Prefecture, and since last year, it has recruited soldiers from the entire Susongtai region.

Although the total population of the above-mentioned places is quite a lot, but because the quality requirements of the Chinese army for recruits are too high, which leads to the number of recruits that can be recruited is actually very limited, in the late Qing Dynasty, Beiyang in order to gather enough troops in the six towns, not only in Zhili, but also in Shandong, Henan and even Shanxi, Anhui and other places to recruit troops, the reason is very simple, because the quality of the soldiers in Beiyang at that time was too high, and many people who meet the requirements are not willing to be soldiers, Therefore, tens of thousands of people cannot be selected out of tens of millions of people.

The requirements for recruiting new recruits in the Chinese army are also very high, which has led to a scarcity of qualified soldiers. (To be continued......)