"This is the dereliction of duty of his subordinates, please punish His Highness!"

In the study of the former governor's mansion in Songjiang, now renamed the palace of the king of Thailand, Gan Xing lowered his head, his face was full of guilt, and took the initiative to ask Chen Wu for his guilt.

Just a quarter of an hour ago, the latest situation in Donghai County came back at an expedited rate of six hundred miles. Due to the amount of work done in advance, and the fact that the shape was destined to be beneficial to the Songjiang army, almost everyone thought that the peaceful takeover of the East China Sea was a foregone conclusion, including Chen Wu and Gan Xing, the head of the intelligence department. However, the actual result made the hearts of the two of them sink.

Cen Wukun, the representative of the local officers in the East China Sea who originally decided to defect to Songjiang, was assassinated when he welcomed the Songjiang army into the city!

This unexpected assassination led directly to a great chaos and a brief fight that followed. Although thanks to the decisive disposition of the cavalry commander, the East China Sea was forcibly taken at the minimum cost and the situation was calmed, the death of more than 100 people and the negative impact of the chaos had a profound impact on the situation in the East China Sea.

At a critical moment when the imperial civil war could expand and intensify at any time, the Northern Luzon strategy was in full swing, and the expansion of the six new divisions was in full swing, this kind of change was really not what Songjiang wanted to see.

In order to peacefully recover the East China Sea, Ganxing's intelligence department did a lot of preliminary work and even temporarily adjusted its focus. For possible sudden changes, such as Cen Wukun's temporary change of mind, he has also made corresponding preparations. But I didn't expect that other forces would intervene. Of course, this has something to do with the fact that the Songjiang Intelligence Department has not been established for a long time, has insufficient experience, and has not made sufficient preparations, but a certain kind of Cheng Dù is definitely a dereliction of duty on the part of Gan Xing.

Chen Wu, who was sitting behind the desk, looked at Gan Xing with such an attitude, and sighed helplessly.

This exile from Ganding Mansion was the first group of rebel veterans to follow Chen Wu. Not only diligent, but also loyal is absolutely guaranteed. In Chen Wu's memory, this should be the only obvious negligence in Ganxing in the past few years. However, it is difficult to prevent such an assassination, not to mention that the situation has been reversed before the collapse and has not caused the worst consequences.

Of course, the result is the same thing, but the principle of clear punishment cannot be changed.

After making up his mind, Chen Wu said in a tone that was not too stern: "In the matter of Donghai County, you have merits and demerits, but the merits and demerits cannot be offset. The matter of reward then has its own rules. As for Cen Wukun's assassination......" He paused deliberately, saw that Gan Xing was a little nervous, shook his head, and said: "Punish for three months, remember to take this as a warning in the future, and don't make similar mistakes again." ”

When the verdict came out, Gan Xing breathed a sigh of relief, and his face couldn't help but feel a little more grateful.

He knew that this punishment was definitely light. I secretly made up my mind that I would be more cautious in the future.

"By the way, has the assassin been identified?"

The official document of the newspaper did not mention it, and Chen Wu was very concerned, so he asked about it.

"Not yet." Gan Xing shook his head, this information was sent back as soon as the war at the south gate of Donghai City subsided, and he knew no more than Chen Wu. But in the world, there are only a few forces that have the ability and motivation to do something against Cen Wukun at this time.

According to the leaked information, it can be inferred that this assassination case is likely to be related to the local forces in Donghai City, but it is not like it is alone, and most of them are colluded by external forces.

As for who it is, Qian Mingde of Yanyun and Qian Minghao of Zhongzhou? Or the Omanis to the south?

In any case, the Omanis are too far from the East China Sea. Moreover, after the defeat of the Second Tiannan War, Saladin's focus and attention were temporarily retracted to the country, and he should not have the ability to make trouble in the East China Sea. Comparatively speaking, it is more suspicious that the two emperors who each claim to be the orthodox Qianyuan Dynasty.

"Who it is, the subordinates dare not speculate. Please give your subordinates some time, and if you can't find out the real culprit, bring your head to see Your Highness! ”

In order to stabilize his trust in Chen Wu's heart, Gan Xing was also open-minded, and directly made a bold statement and a military order.

However, before Gan Xing could arrange the work of the intelligence department and personally rushed from Dengzhou to the East China Sea, the secret agents he sent in the East China Sea had already found out the real culprit and earned face for him, the director.

If the war at Tokai Castle was to be fought completely, it would be difficult for the Matsue Army to investigate the situation at that time. But if it was just a short fight, almost all the people present were charged, and there was too much useful information that could be obtained by investigating it at the first time. Only half a day later, there were indications and clues from several directions at the same time that fell on Cao Laocai's head.

This big grain merchant in Donghai County soon realized that something was wrong. Pretending to pass out and foaming at the mouth, he tried to get his men to send him away, return to his home for medical treatment, and then wait for an opportunity to escape.

Naturally, the investigators of the Songjiang Army would not be deceived by him, and on the one hand, they sent a large number of personnel to accompany them, which was called protection and surveillance. On the other hand, it stepped up to confirm the clues of the previous search and ruled out several other forces that were also suspicious. Especially after the steward of the Cao family saw that the situation was not good and sneaked over to tell the informant, the person in charge of the assassination was confirmed to be correct.

Under the punishment of the army, Matsue Jun quickly got what he wanted.

Agents sent by the military intelligence bureau in Zhongzhou colluded with the local grain merchants to plan the assassination and try to intensify the all-out war between Songjiang and the East China Sea. If it weren't for the timely handling of the cavalry, they would have almost been taken by them, but the reality is that Qian Minghao's move failed on the front line, but it angered the top of the Songjiang Army.

The former fifth prince and the current fifteenth emperor are thousands of miles away, and the Songjiang army can't help him. But Cao Laocai of Donghai City, the specific executor, couldn't escape. As a punishment for daring to do something to the Songjiang army, this big grain merchant in the East China Sea was confiscated of his family property as soon as possible. Including grain shops in various places and mountains of grain, all fell into the hands of the Songjiang army.

Cao Laocai did not hesitate to participate in the assassination in order to protect his family property. The funny thing is that not only did he not get any effect by doing this, but instead accelerated the process of his own demise!

As Donghai City fell into the control of the Songjiang Army, Cao Laocai's guilt was made public, and all the people of Donghai learned of his evil deeds in a short time. After the death sentence was imposed, the Songjiang army promptly put a large amount of grain into the market, on the one hand, through guò to suppress grain prices, and on the other hand, through the influence of guò policies, the grain prices fell in response to the sound in just a few days.

No matter which feudal dynasty you have, if you can eat the people, you can get the support of most people!

Although the impact of the previous short-term battle was not so easy to remove, and it took time for the people of the East China Sea to identify with Songjiang and the King of Thailand, the strategy of calming food prices still had an excellent effect. In addition to Bohai Prefecture, the other four prefectures of Denglai, Fengquan, Baoxin, and Yongshun were successively controlled by the Songjiang Army.

The East China Sea Division of Changding Military Port also opened the gates of the land camp and the water camp at the same time after the arrival of 500 cavalry, and showed its refuge to Songjiang with practical actions.

This powerful sailor has a staggering number of ships. Among them, only the seagoing ships that can go to sea, including some older ships and those that have not yet been officially launched, the total number is as high as 300. I don't know how many other warships in the coastal waters and fast boats under 500 materials. Their addition almost immediately made the Matsue Naval Division the premier water force on the Eastern Continent.

When the good news came, even if Chen Wu had long known the meaning of the East China Sea Division's collective refuge, he was still very happy at this moment.

Unlike the Qianyuan Empire, which did not value the sailors, and even faintly regarded the huge expenses of the sailors as a burden and burden, Chen Wu attached great importance to the sailors. He personally issued a commendation document, which not only kept the name, station, and scale of the East China Sea Division unchanged, but also did not transfer much personnel, but also sprinkled a lot of rewards by the way to buy people's hearts.

Such a move certainly won the favor of the East China Sea Division, but this was not a reason why Chen Wu did not immediately adjust the East China Sea Division.

On the contrary, compared to the Ninghai Division, Chen Wu's trust in the East China Sea Division was very low.

When the Ninghai Division fell into the Songjiang Army, the scale was still very small, and it was only after Chen Wu invested a lot of resources that it gradually rose. In contrast, the scale of the East China Sea Division is too large, and the personnel organization is bloated, if you count all the unrelated personnel, the total number is afraid to be as high as 70,000 or 80,000. There are many factions in it, although under the constraints of Zheng Cheng and the threat of the Lena Ocean Sailors, they have ensured considerable combat power, but the internal friction and corruption are still very strict.

It's just that Chen Wu can't do it right now.

First, there are no suitable and sufficient replacement manpower, and second, they have just taken over, and people's hearts are fluctuating, which is not suitable for big fights. Chen Wu plans to postpone it for a month or two, wait for the Ninghai Division's fleet in Luzon to return, and then carry out another personnel scale exchange, and implement large-scale streamlining and layoffs.

Unrelated mixed personnel will inevitably be kicked out, but if there is a deputy general or a big ship manager who does not listen to the order with his old qualifications and violates Songjiang Yin Fengyang, then Chen Wu will not be blamed for making a move.

With this kind of grace before power, he can really establish an influence among the East China Sea divisions.

Once the two major sailors coordinated and traveled on the ocean in an all-round way, Chen Wu's life would be much more comfortable. Even if the current Ninghai Master is vigorously matured by him, he is still overwhelmed. The iron ore mined in Asahikawa, the gold, grain, and copper ore of North Luzon are piled up, but they can only be partially transported back due to the transportation capacity. The addition of the East China Sea Division will greatly accelerate the flow of foreign wealth into Songjiang, and will also make Songjiang more prosperous in the next few years!

………

Anqing County, Tongshan Defense Line.

Tongshan is a north-south mountain range on the eastern edge of Anqing County, stretching for about more than 100 miles, and the height is not high, but compared with the flat terrain on the east and west sides, it can still be regarded as an important defense line that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Because of this, Qian Minghao's army on the middle road and 150,000 city guards regarded Tongshan Pass as the first line of garrison on the middle road.

Correspondingly, the combined forces of Qianmingde's Yanyun Army and Chen Wu's Songjiang Army stationed a total of 170,000 troops on the plain outside Tongshan Pass.

Qianmingde's Yanyun Legion, with a total of more than 180,000, can be called the largest legion in the empire, of course, this is also related to the former prince's private expansion of the scale. However, only 140,000 appeared outside Tongshan Pass, and three other divisions were reinforced to the south road.

Because of this, before the arrival of more than 30,000 people of the Songjiang Army, the army of Zhongzhou Qianminghao actually had the advantage to defend and attack. However, after the Songjiang army was delayed and urged twice before it arrived, the overall military strength of the two sides reversed. Of course, due to the advantage of the Tongshan defensive line, in fact, the Songjiang Army and the Yanyun Army still did not take the initiative to launch a counteroffensive.

In this regard, the Songjiang Army is naturally happy to see it.

Dian Yong, a general who had been taught by Chen Wu in person, knew very well that the more the Songjiang army dragged on, the more advantageous it became. It is best to wait until Northern Luzon and Donghai County have been fully digested and transformed into war potential, and then they are fully involved in civil war.

Qian Minghao can also tolerate this result.

Although Zhongzhou's financial pressure is huge, he has Wuhu, the world's largest grain-producing area, and Songjiang can only be regarded as second, even if the gap is not much. Moreover, in terms of the overall territory, Qian Minghao, who has Zhongzhou in hand, also has more advantages than Qian Mingde.

Time has dragged on for a long time, and Yan Yun's Qian Mingde is the one who is most worried.

Previously, the Songjiang army had not arrived, and Song Wujian, the general of Qianmingde, did not dare to attack. Although there were daily skirmishes in various parts of the defensive line, the fighting below the brigade level was not enough compared to the hundreds of thousands of troops. Now that the Songjiang army has arrived, the time has been deadlocked for a month, and Song Wujian can no longer bear it.

Coincidentally, at this time, the assassination case on the East China Sea side was also reported, and Chen Wu's instructions followed: Give Qian Minghao's city guards a little color to see.

Dian Yong did not hesitate at all.

With the agreement of the two generals of the unified army, two days later, the first battle of the Central Route Army was launched in the northernmost section of Tongshan Pass. Guarding this place are the two brigades of the Eighth Division of the City Guard. In order to defeat them, Song Wujian invested an entire division here, and there was also a light infantry brigade of the Songjiang Army to support of course, the main attack was the Yanyun Army, and the Songjiang Army was responsible for following behind to expand the results of the battle.

This distribution method is also the premise for Dian Yong to agree with Song Wuji's plan.

In addition to the main attack direction in the northern section of Tongshan Pass, the Songjiang Army and the Yanyun Army will also launch feints in other directions at the same time to contain the city guards.

It must be mentioned that the Tongshan defense line is not a Xiongguan natural danger like the Nanfeng Fortress, but it is the same as the Nanfeng Fortress, which is a defense line that stretches for many sections. Behind the Nanfeng Fortress, there is still only part of the flat land that can grow north, and after Tongshan Pass, there is a complete flat river!

This means that although the city guards are in danger to defend, their own forces are also dispersed into a belt, and the gains and losses are unpredictable. The combined forces of Songjiang and Yanyun, which are inclined to attack, are relatively concentrated in size and can attack one of them.

Because of this, although the number of the coalition army is only 20,000 or 30,000 more than the city guards, as long as they can break through a section of Tongshan Pass and hold the counterattack of the city guards, they can make the entire Tongshan Pass worthless, force the city guards to retreat, and then chase and kill! Even if you can't achieve a total annihilation-style victory, you can push the front forward in a big way, and use the prestige of the coalition army and Qianmingde!