Chen Qi said: The current situation is different from that in the Jingjing disaster.

At the time of Jingjing, the northern army could enter the Beijing division from the north from many directions, so the imperial court deployed heavy troops in Huai'an, Fengyang, and Luzhou, of course, the heavy troops in these places were useless later.

When Zhu Di came in, no one dared to move.

Now the north is all in the hands of the imperial court, which mainly defends the sea to the south and east.

Defend Zhenjiang, and you will not be afraid of the sea in the east.

Defend Zhejiang, and the southern water and land routes are not afraid.

"Who is the Zhenjiang Guard?" The prince asked.

"Baoding Hou Mengshan."

When the prince heard this, his face showed a look of relief, and he should be more satisfied.

Meng Shan was guarding thousands of households in Yanshan before Jingjing, Jianwen three years in July, he was ordered to defend Baoding, tens of thousands of southern troops to attack, only a few thousand people in Baoding City, Meng Shanshou was impregnable, after Jingjing, he was named the Marquis of Baoding.

Meng Shan is good at guarding and has rich experience, and it is quite safe for him to guard Zhenjiang.

The prince's biggest fear now is that each will fall.

Meng Shan is also a veteran of Yanshan, and his son Meng Ying is the commander of a certain guard in Beijing, and he is now in the capital.

Of Meng Shan's five sons, only Meng Yu followed his father to guard Zhenjiang, and the rest were all in Beijing.

He ordered the killing of Yu Xingzhou's family who surrendered, and now the generals on the side of the official army dare not easily turn back.

Although brutal and demoralizing, it does have some usefulness.

"What about Jiangxi?" The prince asked.

If the rebels enter Jiangxi, they can also enter Jiangnan from Jiangxi.

There are relatively few soldiers and horses in Jiangxi, and now there are only three guards and nine institutes.

Two of the guards participated in the Battle of Guangxi, and the entire army was lost, and almost all of them surrendered to the king of Han.

Therefore, now the imperial court has only stationed soldiers and horses in Jiujiang, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Raozhou, and Guangfu in Jiangxi, which is equivalent to giving up most of Jiangxi provinces and holding the barrier in front of Jiangnan.

At present, the rebels have not entered Jiangxi, so it seems to be relatively calm for the time being.

However, the imperial court also made two preparations, if Li Yuan's soldiers and horses in Fujian entered Jiangxi from Shaowu, and the Jiangxi soldiers and horses retreated to Raozhou and Jiujiang, Nanchang could be abandoned.

As long as Raozhou and Jiujiang are held, the rebels will not dare to go deep into Zhili, and the grain route will be cut off at any time.

Because Raozhou and Jiujiang are both on important water post roads, unless the rebels have no boats or do not take the waterway, but it is more difficult to travel by land for heavy grain and grass, and it is easier to be raided.

The crown prince Zhu Gaochi asked at this time: "In Wufu Prefecture, Jiangxi, how many soldiers and horses are there in the imperial court?" ”

There are not many soldiers and horses in Jiangxi, but some guards in Beijing and Zhili have been supported in the past, like Jiujiang, where more than half of the thirty guards in the past of the Beijing division are stationed, of course, the successors are accumulating in Huguang one after another.

The last strategy of the imperial court was to maintain 50,000 men in Jiangxi to protect the south of Zhili and prevent the rebels from Fujian from entering Zhili from Jiangxi.

After hearing this, the prince said: "So in addition to the decisive battle of Huguang, the only thing the imperial court has to worry about is whether Li Yuan of Fujian will attack Jiangxi from Fujian, and then from Jiangxi, and raid the Beijing Division." ”

"Liu Rong is staring at Li Yuan in Zhejiang, and we have soldiers and horses stationed in the five prefectures of Jiangxi, this is not very likely."

"If Li Yuan still wants to learn how to raid with 800 horses and thousands of miles, he is asking for his own death."

Judging from Chen Jue's analysis, if the rebels want to steal chickens, there is nowhere else they can do it except from Jiangxi.

Therefore, the imperial court also arranged heavy troops on the front line of Jiangxi, and the Jingwei first went to Jiujiang, and then went to Huguang in batches, so that they could support Jiangxi at any time.

Of course, there are still many places to Beijing, there are Shandong and Henan in the northwest, but now they are all in the hands of the official army.

The crown prince was slightly relieved at this time, the current situation of the imperial court, and the difficulty of defense, were much easier than when Jianwen was built.

When Jianwen was established, the Northern Army entered Shandong and entered Zhili, and Li Yuan also raided thousands of miles and burned millions of stone grains for the official army in Pei County, which was like a no-man's land.

Mainly because Emperor Jianwen at that time could not organize too many soldiers and horses, and the troops were not enough to defend.

And now Zhu Di still has nearly a million troops in his hands, which can be arranged calmly, in addition to the soldiers and horses in the decisive battle of Huguang, there are many more, and there are few defensive directions, so the prince feels more at ease.

"What about in the city?" The crown prince Zhu Gaochi is very experienced, and it is one thing to defend against the enemy on the periphery, but what to do in case the rebel army is really in the city.

Chen said that in addition to some city gates being blocked to prevent rebel artillery.

The defenders of each city gate are all served by the generals of the Northern Army, and the soldiers and horses are all Jingnan veterans drawn from the direction of Beiping and Liaodong.

This is mainly to prevent someone inside from wanting to surrender and will open the city gates.

If the ants are attached, no matter how many soldiers and horses the rebels have, I am afraid that their lives will be in vain.

"In wartime, as long as you are not guarding the city gate, you will be shot within 100 steps of the city gate, and at the same time spread the news."

"The soldiers and horses guarding the city gate change the city gate every three days or five days, and the change of doors is not fixed, and it is decided temporarily."

Chen Jue said a lot, Gu is the key point of defending the city, and the town has a lot of bows and arrows against the rebels, and a large number of arrow stacks are built at the head of the city to prevent arrows.

At this time, Tan Zhong spoke: "I heard that the rebels have a lot of artillery and they are also fighting far, what are Taining Hou going to do?" ”

Chen Qi said that there are now more than 100 Hongwu cannons in the head of the Jingshi City, and there are quite a few.

Condescending, will not fight closer than the rebels.

He had never fought with the rebels, and thought that the artillery of the rebels was similar to their Hongwu artillery, and he was quite confident.

Besides, the walls of the capital division are so thick, what is the use of more artillery among you?

Chen Qi is still very confident, and after communicating with him, the prince's confidence has also increased greatly.

Zhu Gaochi thought for a moment at this time: "At the moment of crisis, some people like to steal chickens and dogs, and run around in private. ”

"Pass the decree, after my father leaves Beijing, there are no more than three people in Beijing who are civil and military officials to meet in private."

"Reduce private gatherings with more than two people."

"If you have any official business, you will meet in the yamen and talk about it, and if you have any business, you will talk about it in public."

To put it simply, don't run the door, and you will communicate privately in the province.

In the past, mutinies and rebellions were completed by people meeting privately and colluding with generals from all walks of life.

The same was true of the Yongzhou Mutiny.

Although Chen Qisan's move is unreasonable, it should have some effect.

Zhu Gaochi said in a deep voice: "Wearing brocade clothes, there are more secret agents, and they will be strictly investigated and punished. ”

After he finished speaking, he suddenly came back to his senses: "What about Ji Gang?" ”

Yuan Heng said at this time: "Ji Gang personally went to Jiangnan and Zhejiang Wuhai to catch the merchants who collaborated with the enemy. ”

Zhu Gaochi didn't understand at first, but when he heard Yuan Heng say it, he felt that the matter was a bit serious.

Is the court short of food?

Zhu Gaochi even felt a little incredible.

In the later period of Jingnan, the Yan army had more and more soldiers and horses, and finally began to run out of food, because of the lack of food, Zhu Di after the victory, he had disbanded tens of thousands of officers and cavalry to surrender the army, and even the cavalry and war horses were not wanted.

There is no way, the infantry can't be fed, and the war horses can't be fed, so it's better to send them back and consume the bean fodder of the imperial court.

Zhu Di finally took the Beijing division directly, but he was forced by the lack of food and grass and couldn't drag it on.

But now, they are on the side of the imperial court, and they are actually starting to run out of food again.

You must know that the imperial court now controls the provinces with the highest grain production.

Chen Jue said at this time, Huguang, a major grain province of the imperial court, is now occupied by the rebels, and the guards on the territory of the official army are still fewer than the rebels, which means that the military land is also less than that of the rebels, so in Huguang, either the two sides fight and there is no gain, even if there is a harvest, the rebels must be stronger than them.

Moreover, the rebel army in Yunnan, Jiaozhi and other places (including Champa and the Angkor Dynasty court is not yet known) have a steady stream of food and materials sent to the rebel territory.

The rebel provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi all had a large number of guards in Tuntian and did not join the war.

Guangdong and Fujian are said to have stocked up on Tuntian as well.

Compared with before, the imperial court in Beiping, Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Zhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi, everywhere to recruit troops and horses, ready for battle, almost seventy or eighty percent of the military field has been in a state of serious shortage of labor.

Thinking about the Jingjing, the southern army recruited 600,000 soldiers and horses at most at one time.

And Zhu Di invested more than 800,000 troops in the upcoming Battle of Huguang, as well as 200,000 people, known as 1 million.

This means that at least hundreds of thousands of young people in the imperial court are not in Tuntian.

Of course, Zhu Di is starting a decisive battle now, and it is also after last year's autumn grain, and the time is just right.

But if we can't win in a short time, once we enter a protracted war, by the time the summer grain arrives, the output of the imperial court will definitely be far lower than last year.

"But that's not the point." Yuan Jue said at this time: "Zhu Gaoxu collected grain with heavy gold along the coast of Fujian, and also exchanged it for special products from Jiaozhi, Nanyang and other places, and it is said that there is now a kind of white sugar, which is very precious and very popular, and is also used to exchange grain." ”

"The merchants in the south of the Yangtze River can make several times more money by exchanging sugar into their hands and selling it to Japan and North Korea.

"Zhu Gaoxu is very vicious, any exchange of grain for sugar is much cheaper than buying sugar with silver, and the merchants in Jiangnan and Zhejiang are even cheaper, and it is clear that they are deliberately exchanging our grain."

After Yuan Heng said this, he simply gritted his teeth: "In Taizhou, Zhejiang, someone dares to steal the grain in the official warehouse to exchange it for sugar, and then sell it, and then make double the net profit." ”

"Now there is a big problem with the imperial court's grain collection and taxes in the Jiangnan area."

Therefore, Zhu Di sent Ji Gang to go over in person, and he must catch the businessmen who smuggled and colluded with the rebels, and then raided the house and exterminated the clan.

"How can this be reasonable, why is Gao Xu so vicious." The prince was heartbroken: "If the court does not have enough food, it is the people who suffer." ”

Chen Jue's generals all secretly praised the prince's benevolence.

Yao Guangxiao, who hadn't spoken for a long time, spoke at this time: "King Han is very good at doing things. ”

"In addition to using intrigues and tricks on the battlefield, we also know that outside the battlefield, we don't do a good job in the Jingjing."

Yao Guangxiao suddenly said good things about Zhu Gaoxu, and the surroundings were shocked.

But everyone thinks about it, Yao Guangxiao is not wrong.

The ancients only knew about fighting, but Zhu Gaoxu knew that he could infiltrate from the economy, propaganda, logistics, and other aspects, and outside the battlefield, it might be even more tragic, and if he did it well enough, he could even decide the outcome of the battlefield.

At this time, Tan Zhong saw that the prince was not in the right mood, and immediately said: "The King of Han is scheming, and he still uses shameless means outside the battlefield, but as long as His Majesty defeats the rebels in Huguang in a dignified manner, all conspiracies and tricks will be in vain." ”

Yuan Heng also said: "As long as Your Majesty defeats the rebels, all problems are not problems." ”

The prince was silent, probably already thinking, afraid that his father would not be able to beat Gao Xu.

After the discussion, all the civil and military officers left one after another.

Yuan Hui and Yao Guangxiao left last, and when they left, Yuan Heng looked at the prince's face from time to time, and the more he looked at it, the tighter his brows locked, but he didn't say anything, after walking out of the prince's mansion, Yuan Heng looked at the sky, hey, let out a long sigh.

Yao Guangxiao slowly appeared beside him: "You just kept staring at the prince, what did you see?" ”

Yuan Heng's eyebrows moved, and after thinking about it, he said: "Didn't you say it, I haven't seen it for a long time, it should be getting rusty, and I can't see anything." ”

Yao Guangxiao's heart moved, and he looked at Yuan Hui incredulously.

Before and during the Jing disaster, especially before the Jing disaster, Yuan Heng was so confident.

But I heard Yuan Hui say again: "It would be nice if Zhongche was here." (His son Yuan Zhongche looks better than him)

Yao Guangxiao looked at him silently: "No matter what, we-can't lose." ”

Yuan Heng's body shook, turned his head to look at Yao Guangxiao, and then nodded fiercely.

(End of chapter)