"Then my battalion has not received an order to move the camp." Xu Ping said in surprise.

"I don't know about your battalion, but it's hard to disobey the army." Wei Landu chatted with Xu Ping a few more words, and said, "Brother is one step ahead, Brother Xu is going to stay." ”

"I wish Brother Wei a victory."

Xu Ping watched inexplicably as the Shanlan camp rolled past him. In the afternoon, he finally received an official letter from Zhang Chengye, and he couldn't wait to tear it open. Cao Yun, Yu Shenhe, Jiang Yizhou and several others gathered around Xu Ping and asked, "My lord, is there a new order for us?" ”

"No, on the contrary, let's stop looking for opportunities to approach Jinan, or better, save our energy." Xu Ping put away the official document and gave a briefing to a few henchmen around him: In the past few days, the rebels on the entire front have been vulnerable, and the new army has seized various key points with almost no losses, and this one-sided battle has greatly changed Hou Sui's perception of the war situation: "...... The Governor suspended the order of the General Staff Division, intending to cut off the road for the thieves to retreat to Henan first, and then begin the siege of Jinan. ”

Someone said loudly: "The General Staff Department has ordered that no two battalions of the new army should travel more than half a day, and if the Shanlan battalion goes to Feicheng, it will be too far away from our battalion." ”

"Since the thieves are cut off first, then the right wing of our army will be greatly strengthened." In the plan of the General Staff Division, there were originally only two battalions on the right flank, Changqing and Shanlan, and Xu Ping estimated that Hou Sui would transfer a few battalions to strengthen the right flank of the Ming army. However, the contrast between the combat effectiveness of the new army and the rebel army is too great, Xu Ping pouted: "No matter how you fight, you can win this battle, and it doesn't matter if you command." ”

……

On the same day, on the outskirts of the Beijing Division, the General Staff of the New Army.

Those who are familiar with the inside of the new army know that this is the highest command organ of the new army, and when it was first built less than a year ago, the inspecting Zhendonghou looked at the inside and outside of the heavily guarded camp, as well as the dense staff officers, and said softly with a smile: "Wolf's den." From then on, this became a private nickname for senior officers of the New Army to the General Staff Department.

In the center of the wolf's den tent is a huge table with a scaled-down map of the war zone, surrounded by a busy crowd of people who are using long poles to move the chess pieces on the map densely packed with small flags of various colors. A herald walked briskly into the hall and handed a document to an officer standing at the table, who immediately opened it and looked at it. When the officer raised his head again, his expression became very serious. The officer did not immediately deploy a staff officer to conduct the exercise, but quickly left the exercise hall with the official document and walked towards a camp tent next to it.

The heavily armed guards brought the staff officer into the tent, which was not large, with only a small mahogany table and a few delicate chairs, and on an antique bookcase, neatly arranged with scrolls, two men were sitting facing each other, leisurely drinking tea and talking. After the staff officer entered, he saluted respectfully to the person directly opposite the table: "Lord Jin." ”

Immediately afterwards, the staff officer bowed to the other person who was facing his back and saluted: "Lord Zhao." ”

After gently placing the official document on the table with both hands, the staff officer took two steps back and reported: "Shandong 800 miles urgent, just arrived." ”

The chief behind the table waved his hand to let the visitor exit, and then he looked at the official document in his hand and briefly explained: "Hou Sui violated the agreement with the adults and began to do things on his own...... He abandoned his plan to attack Jinan head-on, and ordered the small earth camp (Shanlan camp) on the right flank to continue the attack south over the small wood camp (Changqing camp...... Hou Sui sent six of the eight battalions of the New Army to the left flank, trying to break south for hundreds of miles, forming a large encirclement of Jinan...... Hou Sui also reported to the imperial court urgently, asking the 100,000 left-behind officers and soldiers in Zhongdu (Fengyang) to go north and cooperate with him to block Ji Huisi...... Hou Sui said that he had nothing to hide from us, and he did not make any other small moves. ”

The person sitting across from him was drinking tea leisurely, occasionally nodding his head to show that he understood.

The person holding the official document snorted coldly from his nose: "It's always like this, the ministers are always afraid that the adults will make meritorious contributions, and they are afraid that the new army is not in their hands. In front of the adults, this Hou Sui said a thousand good things, but just a few days after leaving, he began to reach out to the new army and killed our people. Hmph, Hou Sui, this old dog who rebellious, Hou Ye killed him with his little thumb. ”

"I said......" The man who had been drinking tea put down the empty cup, picked up the kettle and added water to the cup: "Jin Qiude, you are always like this, it seems that there are conspiracies everywhere, and everyone is unfavorable to adults." As a result, the group of staff disciples you taught are also like this, always smelling the smell of conspiracy in the air, always detecting clues from the most ordinary official documents, and then starting to get to the bottom of it. ”

Jin Qiude calmly waited for the person opposite to finish speaking, and watched him pick up the teacup again and start tasting the tea before retorting: "It's just one occasionally, but this is not an isolated incident, if we string them together, then Hou Sui's thoughts are obvious." ”

"In the past few days, you have been asking me and you to make a small report and persuade the adults to fight back, do you know what I will say to the adults?"

"Zhao Wanxiong, what are you going to say?"

Zhao admits that the civilian clique generally does not like Huangshi to be in power, but he does not think that the will of the civilian clique will be so strong, as for this matter......

"Hou Sui promised in front of the adults at the time, I don't think it's a hypocrisy." Zhao Slowxiong said unhurriedly: "I don't think Hou Xun wants to do it against the adults at all, whoever wants to do the things that fight with the adults, he Hou Xun wants to take the troops out and come back after the victory, and everything else has nothing to do with him." ”

"And how do you explain all that happened?"

"The other armies can't control it at all, and they can't deal with Ji Huisi at all, otherwise they won't lose Shandong at all and be beaten into Zhili by the rebels. The lord has promised Hou Sui that the only thing he can rely on is our new army, and this Hou Sui knows it very well in his heart. You see, when Xu Ping sent out the troops, he did such an rude thing as snatching the seal, didn't Hou Sui endure it? Zhao Slowxiong felt that the tea was too hot to drink, so he regretfully put the teacup back on the table, folded his arms in front of his chest, and continued to Jin Qiude with a serene expression: "It is precisely because he can't control those military leaders at all, so he can't stop them from harassing the people. ”

"If the old dog thinks like this, then he shouldn't interfere at all, let alone transfer the fire battalion, the gold camp (Xuanfeng camp), and the earth camp (rock camp) to deal with the people."

"He really doesn't want to, but there is a royal history, if the army harasses the people, then he will not escape the blame as a supervisor. Hou Sui also has political enemies in the court, and if he wants to protect himself from being impeached and seized by political enemies, Hou Sui has to say that the people are rebels. In order to prove that the rebels are strong, they have to mobilize the elite third battalion of firefighting. Zhao Wanxiong reached out and rummaged through Jin Qiude's table, but he couldn't find what he needed, but he didn't mind it, leaned back and said slowly: "Do you remember the situation when the fire camp was first dispatched, Hou Xian's words were vague. After Wang Qinian, they didn't work hard, and it took a long time to exterminate a few 'traitors', Hou Sui didn't say a word about it, obviously he just wanted to find an excuse, but in fact, he didn't have much interest in it. ”

"I think he's very attentive. Wang Qinian is an adult's henchman, Hou Sui didn't dare to move, didn't he kill Lin Chongyue and Zhou Manfu? Jin Qiude looked at Zhao Wanxiong with some dissatisfaction, and said: "You always say that I think everything comes from the conspiracy of the ministers, but aren't you the same - you always feel that everything comes from the idiots of the ministers." ”

"Brother Wang is an adult's henchman, isn't Lin Chongyue? I went back and thought about it, and felt that the main reason was that Lin Chongyue was too rushing, if he verbally agreed like Brother Wang and his subordinates would not do anything, then Hou Sui would not care about him. But Brother Lin not only didn't do it, but also went to Hou Sui to announce in public that those people were not rebels, which made Hou Sui intolerable. ”

Jin Qiude stared at Zhao Wanxiong for a long time, and asked slowly: "You mean, if the old dog recognized Lin Chongyue at that time, it would be equivalent to overturning the case of the 'traitor' he killed before; And if the case is overturned, then Hou Sui's charges of 'unifying the army' and 'indiscriminately killing innocents' will be confirmed? ”

Zhao Slowbear nodded: "Yes, that's what I meant." Brother Lin's words were a big slap on Hou Sui's old face. That's why Hou Sui's letter seemed so aggrieved, thinking that Brother Lin had to let him not come to the stage, which was to destroy the agreement and tacit understanding between the adults and him. Well, I don't like Lin Chongyue in the first place, he and Yang Zhiyuan are the same kind of people, they have not achieved enough things and failed more than anything, and they have no good influence on Hou Ye. The mistakes we both made fifteen years ago must not be repeated this time. ”

"Hmm." Jin Qiude nodded, and both of them fell into memories of a past event, and after a while, Jin Qiude picked up the train of thought again: "When the old dog kills Brother Lin, then he will confirm that these people are indeed rebels, so he forced Xu Ping to command three thousand battalions to fight with heart." At the same time, he also wanted to splash the black water on the adults, forcing the battalions of the new army to participate in the battle one after another, and let the other armies kill and kill, but also to prove that the rebels were powerful, and the previous behavior of the officers and soldiers was also a last resort. ”

"You're here again—I admit that Hou Sui wants the new army to have some blood to stick to, so that he doesn't have to sue him. However, the other armies are killing and killing," Zhao Slowxiong pouted: "I think it's not so much that Hou Sui wants to harm adults, but that he is incompetent, and he is completely out of control." ”

"And now?" Jin Qiude clicked on the newly arrived official document at hand and asked Zhao Slowxiong.

"Things have come to this point, I guess Hou Sui must have been extremely panicked, no matter how iron-mouthed he is, the imperial history and political enemies will not let him go. Hou Sui felt that the credit for driving the rebels to Henan was not necessarily big enough, so he simply didn't do anything, and simply rolled up his arms and worked hard to annihilate the rebels in Jinan and capture Ji Huisi and his prisoners alive, so that he could gag other people's mouths. ”

"He's not going to make it." Jin Qiude shook his head and said, as a military general who has been in the army for decades, he doesn't need staff officers to deduce, and he also knows that Hou Sui is doomed. This plan seems to work on paper, but it does not work at all militarily. There are ten new military camps scattered on the front of more than 200 miles, which means that the encirclement is actually leaking everywhere. The 100,000 Ming troops left behind in Fengyang, the central capital, are not to mention that they can be adjusted, and even if they can be adjusted, their combat effectiveness and mobility will be a mess. Not to mention such a grand strategic encirclement, with the communication system of the Ming army, Hou Sui could not effectively command it at all.

Of course he couldn't succeed, that is, a scholar could come up with such a ridiculous idea. In addition, the combat effectiveness of the new army is too strong, and Hou Sui will inevitably have delusions. What Zhao said was also the consensus of the new army. The fighting power of the Forces nouvelles had an overwhelming advantage over the rebels, and the rebels were simply unable to put up effective resistance in the face of the attack of the Forces nouvelles, and as long as the Forces nouvelles dug trenches and held on, the rebels had no choice. So far, the only victory of the rebels over the Forces nouvelles has been the defeat of the Dongsen battalion at the beginning of the year. However, that time it was because the Dongsen battalion was too light on the enemy and left its position to attack the rebels who were several times more numerous than themselves. Moreover, after being lured into an ambush circle by the superior rebels because he did not pay attention to reconnaissance, the battalion commander stubbornly continued the offensive on the inferior terrain where the formation could not be deployed.

However, in the ensuing Battle of Texas, only one engineer general Xu Ping, with 2,000 reservists who did not even have non-commissioned officers, was able to beat the elite of the rebels into an inch on the hastily established position.

"The rebels will definitely be able to escape from Hou Sui's hands, and because of his delusions, there will probably be more rebels who will escape." Jin Qiude gently turned the teacup in front of him, a smile gradually appeared on his face, and said, "This is an opportunity." ”

Zhao Slowxiong looked at his old brothers, after decades of getting along, they knew each other very well: "You don't want to persuade Hou Sui to revise the order?" ”

"Even if I say it, he definitely won't want to change it." Kim laughed. For him, changing a military plan is like a literati writing an article: "Well, I can correct him a little wrong, of course, it will be a plan that is more in line with his wishes." ”

"Then go and persuade the lord to pull Hou Sui when he is unlucky?"

"The parents of those who gave birth to me, and Zhao Slowxiong, the one who knows me." Jin Qiude laughed, he had already decided in his heart not to see Huangshi first, so as not to be seen in this thought: "When Hou Sui supervises the army again in the future, we can ask him to protect He Baodao or Yang Zhiyuan to supervise the whole army." Last time, he promised vaguely, trying to take two steps away from Hou Ye, and we had to tie a rope around the old dog's neck. ”

"I'm afraid that when the time comes, we don't need to say it, Hou Sui himself will cry and shout for the adults to send someone to help him." Zhao Slowxiong smiled and said, "But you also have to stop in moderation, don't let Hou Sui be too ugly." ”

"Where can you see it? Our old friend Ji Huisi has a few pounds and a few taels, I don't know? While speaking, Jin Qiude already had a case: "As long as the new army of adults is protected from losses, the rest depends on their lives, haha." ”

Zhao Slowxiong reminded: "After Ji Huisi retreated, if someone stabbed Hou Sui's indiscriminate killing of innocents and indiscriminate command to the court, the emperor would be furious, and the adults might not be able to protect him." We have invested a lot of money in Hou Sui, and it is troublesome to change someone who is not knowledgeable and interesting. ”

"If you think about it too much, no matter how bad it is, you can save it. Naturally, the other armies will not talk nonsense, Hou Sui himself will not say it, and the words spoken by the military adults have the heaviest weight, and all the battalions of the new army are our old brothers, so naturally they will not talk nonsense. As long as the emperor thinks that Hou Sui can control the new army and contain Hou Ye, it is too late to hold the baby, how can he be willing to change people? Jin Qiude's eyes flashed and asked, "You mean Xu Ping?" ”

"yes, this offspring is too good." Zhao Slowxiong pointed to the military intelligence piled up on the table: "Didn't you also see the actions of the Xiaomu Battalion in the past few days?" Xu Ping was already very dissatisfied with Hou Sui. ”

"Don't worry," Jin Qiude also raised his teacup and began to drink, "I will tell him personally." ”

……

On August 22, Xu Ping frowned and watched his backup troops pass by on the official road, which was Zhu Yuanhong's division of the Lu army. After the Shanlan camp passed the day before yesterday, Zhang Chengye's order was issued to Xu Ping, telling him that Hou Sui arranged for Zhu Yuanhong's third battalion to go to Gema Mountain to set up camp and cover the communication line between the Shanlan camp and the Changqing camp. Cheng Yijun will lead his subordinates to take over the defense of Changqing County and cover the flank of the Changqing battalion.

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