In addition to inspecting military affairs, Gong Chengze did not forget Wei Zixuan's explanation, and took the time to meet with those aristocratic young officers selected by the imperial court.

However, what he never expected was that those officers were not only not deliberately excluded by the Zhenjiang army, but on the contrary, they were quite reused, and they got along with their comrades in Zhenjiang very frankly and harmoniously.

They told Gong Chengze that after this period of personal experience, everyone has the same feeling in their hearts: Zhenjiang is a well-deserved first strong army in the Shengtang Dynasty and the absolute main force to eliminate the rebellion in the south.

The imperial court has entrusted the heavy responsibility to the capital protector, and it is completely reassuring.

Gong Chengze didn't know what means Li Jiangyao used, and actually made these noble children obedient, and the emperor and Zuo Xiangyuan expected them to play the role of monitoring the Zhenjiang army, and no matter how bad they were, they would secretly make trouble, but now it seems that this wishful thinking will not work.

Gong Chengze is the best at seeing the wind and steering, and the audience said so, so he nodded again and again, saying that he absolutely agreed with this statement, and when he returned to the imperial capital, he would definitely convey their opinions to the imperial court.

After all, these young men were all from the noble gate, and he didn't want to be easily offended.

After meeting with the honorable officers, Gong Chengze decided to end the inspection and inspection of the Zhenjiang Army ahead of schedule. Anyway, there is nothing to do in this place, so it is better to leave early and go to the next stop, the Xuanwu Legion, to play prestige.

However, before he had this idea, the situation suddenly changed - Chang Tao commanded the Xuanwu Army to withdraw from the Taizhou garrison and drive north.

Their target is to plague the coastal pirates.

The thieves, who had been making trouble for more than half a year, had already gained a foothold in the eastern state capital at this time. Dong Tianxing mobilized troops several times and counterattacked on a large scale, and even the Xuanwu Legion sent 60,000 reinforcements, but he still failed to recapture the lost city.

In desperation, the imperial court finally decided to let the main army officially participate in the war, and strive to solve the problem of the invasion of the pirates as soon as possible.

Chang Tao was ordered by the Ministry of War to lead the Xuanwu Army from Taizhou and Yangzhou to the north, along the Huai'an Muyang line to the East China Sea, sweeping away the thieves entrenched in Donghai County and Langya County, and after succeeding, he continued to attack the area of Qilu Jiaodong.

The withdrawal of 80,000 troops from the Jiangbei defense line was undoubtedly a wide-ranging change for the counterinsurgency war. And the most important thing is that the Xuanwu Legion left a defensive void because of leaving, who will fill it?

Dong Tianxing had previously suggested that the White Tiger Legion be transferred to fight the thieves. But the idea was rejected by the Governor's Office. The reason given by Yin Chengyi is: As an important defensive force in the Guanzhong region, the White Tiger Legion is stationed on the line from the imperial capital to Tongguan, and it must not be easily changed.

Regarding this ridiculous excuse, Dong Tianxing immediately refuted it: Now that the enemies of Shengtang are mainly concentrated in the south of the Great River and the eastern state capital, there is the emperor's forbidden army corps in the Guanzhong area, which is enough to defend Gyeonggi, so why let the 120,000 White Tiger Army idle in the Tongguan area that does not need to be defended, wasting combat power in vain?

But it's a pity that Emperor Li Bing has other considerations about this. He quickly issued a decree expressing his agreement with the Governor's Mansion, and the White Tiger Legion did not move, and Chang Tao and them still went north to resist the enemy.

The defense area of the Xuanwu Legion can be taken care of by the nearby Phoenix Legion, or the Qinglong Legion can be transferred to take over.

Dong Tianxing was so angry that his head hurt.

He knew in his heart that the reason why Li Bing did this was to strengthen the military presence near the imperial capital and prevent anyone from threatening the imperial power; Second, Li Bing and the ministers were confident that the current pattern of attacking the north and defending the south had been formed, and Lao Jianhua's rebels would not dare to take the initiative to provoke the imperial army.

Therefore, even if the Xuanwu Army goes north, there will be no mistakes in the Dajiang defense line.

However, in Lao Dong's view, the emperor is a complete military idiot. Fools can think that the thieves who suddenly appeared in the eastern state capital must be accomplices found by Lao Jianhua and Bao Yuchun, the purpose of which is to disrupt the rear of the Dajiang defense line and even attract the main army to leave.

And once this situation occurs, the Jiangnan rebels will not miss the opportunity and let the imperial court deploy calmly.

Dong Tianxing secretly scolded Li Bing for being stupid, and at the same time wrote a letter to Li Jiangyao for help, hoping that the Zhenjiang Army could transfer some main forces as soon as possible to quickly fill the defensive gap left by the Xuanwu Army.

At the very least, it is necessary to keep the two important cities of Taizhou and Yangzhou, as well as the shipyards scattered here.

Li Jiangyao was also quite surprised that Chang Tao and the others were suddenly sent to sweep away the thieves. For such a major military move, the imperial court neither seriously discussed it, nor did it consult the generals of the front-line legions, saying that it would be pulled away, and it was the entire Xuanwu Legion that acted as a child's play.

Without waiting for Dong Tianxing to send a letter for help, he made preparations one step in advance. The Eighth Army stationed in Chuzhou received an order to gather four battalions of troops and rush to Yangzhou to take over, while the farther Taizhou was under the responsibility of the Ninth Army, and the second banner of light cavalry rushed to help.

Li Jiangyao's movements are not unpleasant, but unfortunately, Lao Jianhua's movements are faster.

Not long after Chang Tao's main force left, the rebels who had been hiding at the mouth of the Jiajiang River quickly dispatched, hundreds of large ships crossed the river, Ye Rongcheng personally commanded, led 30,000 soldiers and horses to land in Jiangbei, and went straight to Yangzhou.

The strength of the Xuanwu Legion left here was only about 2,000 people, and in the face of the fierce rebels, they couldn't resist at all, and they struggled to support it for an hour, and they were broken through the city gates on all sides by Ye Rongcheng.

Yangzhou was lost in half a day, and sixteen shipbuilding workshops, along with nearly 100 warships under construction and piles of wood, were all burned by the enemy. Not only that, but the rebels also captured thousands of shipbuilders and took them all to Jiangnan.

After Ye Rongcheng succeeded, he did not defend the city, but rushed to Taizhou before the arrival of the Eighth Army in Zhenjiang, and destroyed all the shipyards there again, and then the rebels re-boarded the ships in Jiangdu Port and returned to the south bank safely.

A raid battle, fought clean and beautiful, quite the style of the Xuanjia Army back then.

Although the city and land were not lost, the Dajiang defense line was easily broken through by the rebels, and the important facilities for shipbuilding and preparation for war suffered a devastating blow, which still shocked the government and the public.

Li Bing was furious about this. However, he did not find the reason in himself, but blamed all the blame on the Governor's Mansion, the Military Department, and Chang Tao, and reprimanded them for rushing to transfer troops without careful planning, neglecting and neglecting major military affairs, and giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of.

At the same time, the imperial court urgently ordered Gong Chengze, who was inspecting the front line, to rush to Yangzhou to preside over the overall situation.

Gong Chengze had no choice but to hurry up and come to Yangzhou City.

At this time, Yangzhou was already in disarray, and the soldiers of the Eighth Army of Zhenjiang had just arrived here, helping the people in the city to treat the wounded and extinguish the fire and relieve the disaster.

Although nominally the front-line commander, Gong Chengze did not have the right to transfer troops to command. Moreover, even if the imperial court gave him command, the Zhenjiang army would not listen to him. Therefore, Gong Chengze couldn't do anything except stare at the excitement on the sidelines.

Fortunately, the rebels had all withdrawn by this time, and they had nothing to worry about. Seeing that order in the city was gradually restored, this guy was revealed again, and he hid in the city guard mansion all day long.

Not long after, a new order came from the imperial court: the Phoenix Legion expanded the defense area and included Yangzhou under its jurisdiction, while Taizhou was temporarily guarded by Gong Chengze and commanded the local government soldiers to implement the defense.

Gong Chengze secretly sighed that he was unlucky, so he had to set off again and set off for Taizhou.

originally planned to use the identity of the prosecutor to show off his might on the front line of the river, but he didn't expect that the time was bad, and he had to fill the loopholes for others. Gong Chengze secretly wondered in his heart, whether to send someone back to the imperial capital, ask Wei Zixuan for help, and transfer him back as soon as possible, so as not to suffer here.

didn't think about it, before Gong Chengze could send a letter to the imperial capital, the evil star had already come to the door - Ye Rongcheng, who had withdrawn to the south bank before, suddenly killed another horse gun.

10,000 rebels crossed the river by boat, sneaked in from the mouth of the Yinjiang River on the north bank, interspersed all the way to the north, and finally landed near the city of Taizhou, and launched a fierce attack on the city directly.

Gong Chengze was shocked, and while organizing the government soldiers in the city to resist desperately, he sent people to chase after the 5,000 cavalry of the Ninth Army in Zhenjiang and reported for help. The Ninth Army was ordered to rush to the aid of Taizhou, and now Gong Chengze has come to take over to defend the city, so after consulting Xu Youchang, he set off to return to the Chuzhou garrison, and has just left not long ago.

The letter soldiers who asked for help ran for their lives, and finally caught up with the Zhenjiang army halfway, and told the other party about the sudden sneak attack by the rebels in Taizhou.

The situation was urgent, and the cavalry lieutenants of the Ninth Army didn't think much about it, and hurriedly ordered the whole army to turn around and quickly march to Taizhou to rescue the city.

The five thousand light cavalry immediately whipped their horses and galloped back to the east. But no one expected that they had just passed Liqiao Village, which was only less than twenty miles away from Taizhou, but they were suddenly ambushed by the enemy.

The rebel general Xie Bao led 20,000 soldiers and horses from the dense forests on both sides of the gallop road and pounced on the cavalry troops of the Zhenjiang army.

All of a sudden, the sound of killing on the gallop shook the sky.

The soldiers on both sides were completely mixed together, knives and guns were exchanged, and flesh and blood were flying. Xie Bao wielded a double hammer, rushing left and right on the battlefield, as if entering a no-man's land. He personally stoned to death the leading lieutenant of the Ninth Army, and then took advantage of the unfavorable situation of the Zhenjiang Army being encircled and losing its command, and completely defeated the 5,000 cavalry in one go.

This unexpected ambush caused more than 3,700 casualties of the Ninth Army on the spot, one lieutenant and three lieutenants died bravely, and only more than 1,000 people broke through in the end.

At the same time, Ye Rongcheng also commanded his subordinates to capture Taizhou. Gong Chengze disguised himself as an ordinary person and escaped from the battle, only to slip away before the enemy broke the city.

As last time, the rebels were not in a fight. They beheaded all the captured 2,000 soldiers, and after sacking Taizhou again, they set sail away.

When the news came back, not only was the government and the opposition shocked, but the Zhenjiang army was even more furious. Since they went east to quell the rebellion, they have never suffered such a big loss.

The generals of the various armies have asked for war to avenge the brothers who died in the battle!