scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 332 I Can't Help My Child

Tuhai planted trees, Zhangtai enjoyed the shade, Xia Guoxiang was unlucky, but Lu Fatty, who was watching the fire from the other side, really benefited.Xia Guoxiang, who lost his troops and ran out of food, grass and firearms, was forced to withdraw his army. The first major crisis after the Fatty Army got rid of the direct control of the old traitor Wu finally passed. Threats, the old Wu Jun inside the Fatty Army does not have to face the problem of standing in line and be torn apart. They can unite and work together to deal with the direct threat of the Qing Army and the Geng Jingzhong Army. The various pressures on Fatty Lu are also greatly reduced-after all, Open spears are easy to block, but hidden arrows are the hardest to guard against.

So far, the chaotic situation around Fat Man's Army is basically clear. The 12 troops led by Yue Le are entrenched in the north of Huai'an Mansion in the north of Yangzhou, north of the Yellow River, threatening Yangzhou Mansion, the northern gate of Fat Man's Army; The Zhiqing Army was stationed in Chuzhou, Tongling, and Anqing, with a total strength of about 11 troops. However, because of the need to defend the city and guard against Wu Yingqi, Shang Zhixin, and Geng Jingzhong's troops, only seven troops could really be sent to the Jiangnan battlefield. become.

The situation on the southern front of the Fatty Army is more complicated. The Fatty Army, Geng Jingzhong Army, Zheng Jingjun, and Zhejiang Qing Army have a total strength of more than [-] troops, but they are interlocked with each other. The four forces tried their best to maintain restraint, and they all hoped that the other three would fight one to the death, and then come out to take advantage of it.Although the Fatty Army is in the eye of the storm and surrounded by enemies on all sides, relying on the dangers of rivers, mountains and lakes, the elite soldiers also rely on the land of the world's wealth and essence, rich food and plentiful products, unless the enemy invades from all sides at the same time, otherwise it will not matter. In any route alone, the Fatty Army has the absolute ability and absolute confidence to repel it, or even wipe it out.

Faced with such a situation, Fatty Lu, who holds the world's granary, Huaxia Bank, has unlimited potential, of course hopes that the decisive battle will be as soon as possible, and use time to bring down the finances of the Qing Dynasty, which is on the verge of collapse, and also bring down Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Zheng, who are absolutely lacking in stamina. According to the scriptures, build high walls and slowly become king, concentrate on strengthening your strength, and then show your sword to the world when the time is right.Therefore, even though he had a good chance of winning, Fatty Lu rationally maintained restraint, and ordered the four major legions not to take the initiative to attack, and defending the territory to waste time is victory!Enemies from all directions come if you want, Fat Lord, my fortified city weapon is waiting for you!The jackals and hungry tigers around you are also waiting for you to leave the lair!

Faced with the same situation, as well as Fatty Lu's shameless tactics, all of Fatty Lu's hapless opponents jumped in a hurry. There was no chance of winning the attack, and they couldn't beat Fatty Lu's fat body. The biggest hope is that Fatty Lu will take the initiative to attack and look for opportunities to win in a more certain defensive battle, or he can count on other people to be the early birds and pawns, first consume part of Fatty Lu's strength and then come out to pick up the cheap, but in this world Is there such a good thing?Is there such a fool in the world who would act as a pawn to block Fatty Lu's gun in place of a dead ghost?
Or the newly crowned Prince Zhang Taizhang is such a fool. Unfortunately, after he resumed his position as General Jingkou of Anyuan, he still commanded only Anqing's more than 3 troops. He was too far away from Fatty Lu, and he couldn't fight him if he wanted to. And although Prince Zhang deserved to die, the 3 Qing soldiers under his command were innocent, and Yue Le couldn't bear to let these innocent soldiers be buried with Prince Zhang.

So there was no other way, Prince An Yue Le had no choice but to focus on Geng Jingzhong who had recently turned against Fatty Lu, hoping that he would be the first to fight with Fatty Lu and consume some of Fatty Lu's strength.And our Jingnan King, Geng Jingzhong, Geng Geng, has personally led [-] soldiers and horses, and arrived at Yiwu County, Jinhua Prefecture, which was recently occupied by the Geng Army on the [-]th day of the first lunar month. Jiangnan, use Jiangnan's abundant money and food to completely make up for the financial shortcomings of the self-armed army. —By the way, among the San Francisco, the poorest one is this Lord Geng.

Arrived in Yiwu County where the main force of the Geng Army’s North Route Army is located, and just learned about the specific situation in northern Zhejiang, Geng Jingzhong’s buttocks have not yet warmed up, Yue Le’s secret envoy has already arrived, and he asked Geng Jingzhong to send troops to fight with Zhejiang The Qing army joined forces to attack Fatty Lu and Liu Guoxuan. After the incident was completed, Yue Le gave the whole of Zhejiang to Geng Jingzhong, and tried his best to persuade Kang Mazi to allow Geng Jingzhong to proclaim the emperor and share the world with Geng Jingzhong.However, Lord Geng is not a fool. While maintaining this relationship with Yue Lexu and the Snake, he sent envoys to Nanjing to express his apologies to Fatty Lu and asked Fatty Lu to provide food, grass and military pay so that his own army can attack Shaoxing and Ningbo, and pull out the Qing army in Nanjing. The last nail in Zhejiang is to actively prepare for war and be ready to send troops north at any time.

Prince Geng is not stupid, and our Lu Sanhao is not a fool. When Geng Jingzhong's envoy arrived in Nanjing again, the news that Xia Guoxiang was miraculously beaten away by Master Zhangtai Beizi had already spread to Nanjing. Naturally, he has no good face, not only rejecting Geng Jingzhong's apology, but also categorically rejecting Geng Jingzhong's request for money and food, insisting that his pure heart has been hurt too much by Geng Jingzhong's envoy Huang Kun, and he has no intention of continuing the covenant with Geng Jingzhong. Fatty Lu will never consider renewing the alliance with Geng Jingzhong unless Geng Jingzhong takes Ningbo and Shaoxing first and kills the remnants of the Qing army entrenched there!
In addition, Fatty Lu even more shamelessly sent a messenger to his uncle Shang Zhixin, asking him to uphold justice for him, send troops to Fujian to avenge his concubine, and attack Geng Jingzhong's hometown of Fuzhou.Of course, after Fatty Lu's letter was delivered to Shang Zhixin, the eldest prince immediately blew his nose—fuck!You, a little fat man, dumped my older sister and married a young and beautiful little vixen, and you still want my big brother-in-law to send troops to avenge your little vixen?Do you think your uncle is the second?

Fatty Lu's answer was of course expected by Geng Jingzhong, but in view of the complicated situation in northern Zhejiang, Geng Jingzhong did not immediately send troops to fight with Fatty Lu in a rage, but sent envoys to contact Yue Le and proposed to Yue Le. One of the conditions for joining forces is that the Zhejiang Qing army must take down the city of Hangzhou where Liu Guoxuan is entrenched, and then lend Hangzhou's Lin'an County and Changhua County to Geng Jingzhong, and Geng Jingzhong and Yue Le will join forces to beat Lu Fatty!
Geng Jingzhong also knew that it was difficult for Yue Le to agree to his conditions, but Geng Jingzhong didn't care. The biggest purpose of Geng Jingzhong's letter was to tell Yue Le that I, Prince Jingnan, are not stupid. It is absolutely impossible to join hands with you, and I will not let you act as the first bird to replace the dead ghost, and fight Fatty Lu to the death and let you Yue Le take advantage of it. If you don't do it first, I will never do it.So as long as this letter is delivered to Yue Le, Prince Geng's goal will be achieved.

Because the central area is tightly controlled by the Fat Man Army, Geng Jingzhong's envoys can only deliver the letter to Yue Le by detours by sea or by detours from Jiangxi and Anhui. Time, bought a lot of precious time for Fatty Lu.But at this time, an unexpected situation almost broke the stalemate situation where various forces restrained each other. Thousands, snatched Donggexi Geer Town, north of Chuhe River, Jiangpu County, and used it as a forward base to harass and destroy the spring farming in Jiangpu County, and wantonly hunt and kill the people in Jiangpu County who have cut their braids and hair!

Originally, the two small towns with a combined population of less than [-] households were of no importance at all, and losing Fatty Lu was not a big deal, but in this season of spring plowing, which is crucial to the whole year's plan, the Qing army even came to sabotage and prevent the people of Jiangpu from spring plowing. Fatty Lu, who has always claimed to love the people like a son, can't bear it if he wants the people of Jiangpu to be hungry in the coming year.

"Send troops! Send troops immediately!" Fatty Lu slapped the table, and shouted with a fat face, "Let Quan Jie lead an army of [-] people across the river, go to Jiangpu County for reinforcements, and kill the Man Gou there! Completely scare the Man Gou in Chuzhou, Let the dogs in Chuzhou dare not dream of the land of Nanjing Mansion!"

"General, please calm down." Yao Qisheng said: "It's really hateful that the dogs are harassing our army's borders and destroying our army's spring plowing. We must stop the momentum of the dogs. But the students think that since they want to fight, then don't A small fight, a big fight, a big fight with Mangou Jieshu, pull out this nail stuck in our stomach!"

"The military commander is justified, and I agree." Wang Shaobo echoed: "Chuzhou is surrounded by mountains on all sides. The terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is only a hundred miles away from Nanjing, the main city of our army. It is always threatening the safety of Nanjing. It is better to go earlier." Send troops to attack, and use this place as a buffer to defend the security of our army's Nanjing. In the future, when the dogs will invade from all sides, our army can also calmly face it."

"Wrong, it's for the future, so I haven't gone to fight Chuzhou until now." Fatty Lu shook his head and said with a smile: "Chuzhou is indeed a dangerous terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. If we don't pull out this nail, our Nanjing hinterland will be destroyed." An Ning, but it is for this reason that I am not in a hurry to take Chuzhou and leave this important military area to Mangou."

"Why?" Yao Qisheng asked in surprise along with Wang Shaobo and others.

"Of course it is for more Mangou flags to come to your door to die." Fatty Lu grinned, beckoned Yao Qisheng and others to the map sand table, pointed to the sand table and said, "Look at the Man Dog flag on the sand table, except Dong Overseas, Mangou has actually surrounded us from the northwest and south, that is to say, the strategic encirclement has been completed, but why has Mangou not dared to launch an attack until now? The biggest reason is that the commander-in-chief of the Mangou army, Yue happy!"

"Yue Le is very clear that the current Mangou army is no match for our army in terms of quality and weapons. There is almost no chance of winning in field battles or siege battles. There are only two hopes. One is to let our rebels kill each other, and the other is hope Our army took the initiative to attack, and hoped that our army would show its flaws and attack the enemy. In this case, if I send a heavy force to attack Chuzhou, then Yue Le's second wish will come true. Chuzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are also [-] defenders with Jieshu. If the battle goes unfavorably, Geng Jingzhong behind us may immediately seize the opportunity to attack! In this way, Yue Le's first wish is also fulfilled, and we may show our flaws !"

"So that's how it is." Yao Qisheng nodded, and suddenly said: "It turns out that the general wants to remain unchanged in response to all changes, insist on taking a defensive position, let Man Gou attack first, reveal flaws in the movement, and then our army will strike later."

"There are two other reasons." Fatty Lu held up two fat fingers and said calmly: "One, it consumes a lot of national power, Chuzhou is surrounded by mountains, and the grain production is not abundant. Jieshu's [-] troops rely entirely on the Lu The state and Fengyang are supplied by land, and the transportation is inconvenient. The road consumption is astonishing. Although Anhui is also a grain-producing area, the combined military grain supply of Fengyang and Lushan is not as good as Yangzhou Prefecture, which has the smallest military grain supply in the areas controlled by our army. Compared with our Suzhou government, which supplies the most military rations, it is only one-tenth of Suzhou! In the long run, Jieshu is difficult to support, so he must try to break the deadlock and take the initiative. In addition, all the food in Luzhou and Fengyang is supplied to the In Chuzhou, Yue Le will not even try to transfer grain from Anhui to maintain it."

"Secondly, Mangou has completed the strategic encirclement of our army, and Jie Shu is like a sharp knife against our chest and abdomen. The situation is favorable to Mangou. The Mangou court will definitely urge Yue Le to march. Yue Le Le will also feel the pressure. After a long time, even if Yue Le wants to persevere, the Mangou court will not agree. At that time, the Emperor Mangou will force Yue Le to send troops, force Yue Le to show his flaws, is not it……."

"Or it's Emperor Mangou's personal conquest!" Wang Shaobo expressed Fatty Lu's long-awaited wish, and then said: "Student understands, the master wants to give Emperor Mangou a little hope, and let him force the main force of Mangou to take the initiative to attack , Our army waits for work with leisure, and the odds of winning are naturally greater than taking the initiative to attack. If Yue Le does not listen to Emperor Mangou, Emperor Mangou will naturally have to consider the imperial conquest again."

"It's good to understand!" Fatty Lu nodded vigorously, and said with a smirk: "One more thing, what you say that Chuzhou is a sharp knife against the heart of our army, in my opinion, it is simply a joke, full of dogs and books. There is not even a ferry boat Why do you cross the river and hit my Nanjing? Since this knife can't threaten us at all, it's better to leave him there to rust, and let him empty out the last national power of Mangou! Also leave a last for Emperor Mangou Think about it!"

Seeing that Fatty Lu had made up his mind, Yao Qisheng and the others stopped insisting. They just started preparing for the whole festival's [-] troops to attack to drive away the Jieshu army that threatened Jiangpu County. Liutang Mountain, the only way to Jiangpu, built a fortress there to curb Jieshu's southward road, so that the garrison could stick to it for a long time. Fatty Lu was very satisfied and immediately nodded in agreement.

........................

The amount of military rations that Fatty Lu said is actually the amount of levied grain, which is not completely accurate. Due to various restrictions on climate, environment, population, and water conservancy, the grain produced by Fengyang Prefecture in Anhui, except for the consumption of local people, can only be taken out every year. Sixty thousand shi of grain was supplied to the Qing court, and Luzhou only had 13 shi.In the state capital controlled by Fatty Lu, except that all the grain produced in Taiping Mansion in the west gate is left in the local area, Nanjing Mansion can provide Fatty Lu with 17 shi of military rations a year, Changzhou 10 shi, and Zhenjiang 70 shi , the least Yangzhou mansion is 69 shi. As for Suzhou mansion, it is actually not as exaggerated as Fengyang and Luzhou adding up to [-] shi—only [-] shi!Now, my friends should understand why Fatty Lu is confident in exhausting the Qing army, right?

In any case, Fatty Lu’s tactic of not being able to get ahead really hit the weakness of the Qing court and the Qing army. The western and southern fronts were better, and the food was barely self-sufficient, but the northern line was miserable. What's worse, the 12 army is all supported by Zhili Shandong, which is not enough for itself. Huai'an is unable to provide food and grass support for Yue Le's army because of the diversion of the Yellow River and submerged fertile fields. Horse grass must be transported from the poor and poor, how can we get it in the long run?The Qing court urged Yue Le to march three times a day. The chief and deputy commanders, Yue Le and Dong Weiguo, were so anxious that their lips blistered, but there was nothing they could do.

On the tenth day of February, Monk Tuhai came back to Yuele camp on the north of the Qinghe River in Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, and brought Yue Le a thousand catties of three-good explosives that he got from Zhangtai Beizi with a lot of effort. And a batch of detonators - of course they were seized from Xia Guoxiang.As soon as he limped into the camp and met Yue Legang, Tu Hai couldn't wait to ask: "My lord, is there any change in the Yangzhou army of Lu Yifeng's dog thief? Has it gone north?"

Yue Le smiled wryly, and answered after a while: "Twenty thousand Mongolian cavalry crossed the river and stationed in Huai'an Mansion. They went south nine times to challenge Baoying, but Baoying Wugou just shut the door and didn't fight. Gao Dejie's rebel didn't even come to Gaoyou. See It looks like Lu Yifeng's bastard is determined to force the king's main force to cross the river for a decisive battle."

"What about the imperial court?" Tu Hai asked again: "Does the master have a will?"

"Of course there is." Yue Le said with a wry smile: "During the time you've been away, the master has issued twelve imperial decrees, each of which is more severe than the last, all forcing our army to cross the river and go south to fight Wugou for a decisive battle."

"If there is a chance of winning, even if there is a [-]% to [-]% certainty, we still need such a rush from the master?" Tu Hai sighed, but he was also at a loss for the current situation.

"Prince An, you can't go on like this." Shang Shan frowned and said, "Xia Guoxiang's bastard was beaten away by that idiot Zhangtai's shit luck, and Lu Yifeng's bastard is gone. The biggest threat must be exhausting us. , if we continue to stand still like this, without Wu Gou doing anything, the spittle stars in the court may drown us."

"It's definitely not." Yue Le smiled bitterly, "Because before I was drowned by the spittle star, I must have been stripped of the title of prince, relieved of all duties, and went back to study behind closed doors."

Tu Hai and Shang Shan laughed together, but the smiles were equally bitter. In desperation, Shang Shan had no choice but to suggest: "My lord, why don't we just cross the river, the main force crosses the river to fight against Wu Dog's main force, maybe there is still a little bit left." Opportunity, but if you don't cross the river, there is no chance at all."

"But even if we cross the Yellow River, we still don't have the slightest chance." Yue Le said more helplessly: "Don't you expect Lu Yifeng to be as stupid as Xia Guoxiang to give us a chance like Chizhou?"

"That's not necessarily the case, as long as the main force of Lu Yifeng's thieves goes north to fight us, we will have a chance." Shang Shan replied.

"What do you mean?" Yue Le asked suspiciously.

Shang Shan and Tu Hai looked at each other, then Shang Shan coughed and said in a low voice: "My lord, Tu Tang and I brought back a thousand catties of three good explosives for you this time. In the current situation, our only hope of victory may be the Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake."

"You want to blow up the dam again, and get Jie Wugou's army to be buried with the Mongolian army?" Yue Le asked in a low voice: "This king is already doing this, but if the high Jiewu dog thief is not fooled, how can there be any?" any solution?"

"Xia Guoxiang's thieves have already retreated, and Geng Jingzhong is an idiot who can't be supported. I'm afraid it will be difficult to form a strong restraint on Lu Yifeng's thieves. Just killing Wu Gou Gao's Jiebing regiment may not be enough to change the situation of the battle." Shang Shan lowered his voice. The voice said: "I don't want the child to be a wolf, we want to invite the prince's soldiers to take the risk, and the 12 army that Lalu Yifeng dog thief gave us will be buried with us!"

"The 12 army that Lalu Yifeng dog thief gave us to be buried with us?" Yue Le almost suspected that he heard it wrong.

Shang Shan nodded, and said in a low voice: "That's what we think. Now that Xia Guoxiang's bandits have retreated, the pressure on Lu Yifeng's bandits on the western front has been greatly reduced. If the main force of our southern expedition crosses the Yellow River and goes down south, it will advance to Baoying at a rapid speed. In the area of ​​Jieshou in the south, all the 12 troops were used as bait. With Lu Yifeng's dog thief's military habits, he must personally lead the troops to fight our army. We will fight and retreat to lure the main force of Lu Yifeng's dog thief. Near Huai'an. Then, Lalu Yifeng dog thief and our 12 army perish together!"

"Are you crazy?" Yue Le exclaimed in a low voice, "In order to deal with Lu Yifeng's dog thief and part of his main force, you actually want to use our 12 army to die with him?"

"The slave thinks it's worth it." Tu Hai opened his mouth and said in a low voice: "Jiangnan Wugou is headed by Lu Yifeng's thief, and internal hidden dangers and differences are also very serious. Except for Lu Yifeng's thief, there is no one else that can command the entire army to obey. All the handsome talents, once Lu Yifeng died, Jiangnan Wugou immediately fell apart, and our army on the western front will have a chance. You know better than anyone what the virtues of our 12 army are, even Lord Leerjinbeile The remnants and defeated generals collected from Jiangxi, Guangdong are not as good as they are useless anyway, so it is better to use them to create opportunities for friendly troops."

Yue Le was silent, and Shang Shan said: "My lord, in fact, it is just a way of saying that the 12 army will die with Lu Yifeng's dog thief. Our casualties will not be so great. First, our 12 army must stay. Part of it is to protect the food road in Qingjiang. Second, Huai’an City, which is protected by the city, can be stationed to accommodate part of the army. Third, when we lure Lu Yifeng’s dog thief to go north, we can retreat and transfer part of the army in advance, and our losses will not be so great. Big."

"In short, we have to forget about the danger of Gaojiayan, and make Lu Yifeng think that we have no intention of attacking Gaojiayan, but just want to fight him in Yangzhou Mansion." Tu Hai said in a deep voice: "As long as Lu Yifeng's dog thief personally leads the troops to the north, and we will have a chance to fight us on the northern front. Therefore, we have no choice but to use 12 main forces as bait."

Yue Le was silent for a long time, and finally hesitantly said: "Anyway, the emperor is urging me to cross the river so hard, I can't do without giving the emperor an explanation, so let's cross the river to Jieshou and set up camp first, as to whether to use your tricks or not , prepare secretly first, and then decide after seeing the situation.”

(End of this chapter)