(Asking for a red ticket, I got up in the early morning to code the word, and presented a new chapter to my brother before work and school)

In the second year of Yongxing, in late January, the rebel general Chen Zhihu led his troops to Qinyang, slaughtered the city, and plundered the army for three days; The soldiers and horses of Yanhu and Jinnan basically controlled the area on the north bank of the Yellow River from Tongguan to Taihang Mountain, and a large number of cavalry bypassed Daliang, Zhengzhou and other big cities, and raided the cities in the hinterland of Hehuai.

In the eastern part of the Shandong Peninsula, more than 20,000 Yanhu cavalry infiltrated by bypassing Yangxin and other cities, and after Tupingdu City, they successively captured Changle, Anle, Laiyang, Zhaoyuan, Haiyang and other cities.

The Hehuai defense line still adheres to the strategy of clearing the wilderness with strong walls, concentrating troops to defend key cities, and avoiding field battles with the enemy; although the production of Hehuai and Shandong has been extremely seriously damaged, it seems that the Hehuai defense line itself has not suffered much direct impact.

Compared with Yanhu's terrain in the north, the war along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line of the luxury family fell into a difficult delay.

Qin Zitan stood at the head of the city and looked at the Nanxi River that passed around the city, the Nanxi River meandered southward, and the Yongjia River went down more than 40 miles to the east and entered the sea. The estuary of the Yongjia River sticks to the coast, and thirty miles to the north is Yueqing.

The news brought back by the sentinels who infiltrated Yueqing was not optimistic, and since the end of January, a large number of ships have been stationed in the coastal areas of Yueqing. In addition to the continuous increase in the Yueqing garrison, Huaidong even began to migrate to the coastal islands east of Yueqing.

"Huaidong has made up its mind to open up the battlefield in southern Zhejiang......" Wen Tingrui, the general of the Southern Zhejiang Governor's Mansion and the governor of Yongjia Mansion, pulled out deep wrinkles on his forehead, and in the face of the continuous bad news coming back from the Eastern Front, he had to make such a judgment.

Qin Zitan frowned, when the Huaidong Navy crisscrossed the East China Sea and Zhejiang and Fujian could not control each other, the luxury family fell into passivity.

Huaidong stationed nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses in the Mingzhou Prefecture, and the Zhejiang-Fujian army had to form a defensive line to encircle the inner line on the periphery of Huiji, Zhuji, Dongyang, Tiantai, Taizhou, and other places, and deploy nearly 60,000 Shuibu troops to barely ensure the stability of the defensive line.

In order to gather 60,000 water infantry troops on the periphery of Mingzhou Mansion, the military potential of the luxury family in eastern Zhejiang has been almost emptied, and the garrison of Yongjia Mansion has been reduced from the initial more than 20,000 people to 10,000, of which only 3,000 are absolutely loyal to the elite of Fujian.

For Huaidong, there is no need to do any more dangerous tricks, and then use any tricks, just need to choose this time to open up a new battlefield in southern Zhejiang, whether it is the officials and generals of Yongjia Mansion, or the people of the Governor's Mansion of Southern Zhejiang, Yang or the Governor's Mansion of Zhejiang and Fujian feel great pressure.

Qin Zitan had always been worried about the situation in southern Zhejiang, so he rushed to Yongjia from Dongyang County to observe the situation, but he didn't expect the situation to really develop on the side he was most worried about.

"Yongjia has a total of 10,000 soldiers and horses, and it is necessary to ensure that the Huaidong Army is suppressed in Yueqing City, let alone 30,000 or 40,000 people, and the second prince is already feeling very difficult, and now he can only rescue the eldest prince," a veteran in scale armor stood beside Wen Tingrui and said in an urn voice.

"The eldest prince's offensive against Huinan and Gannan in western Zhejiang is also a little lacking, and if he draws away 20,000 to 30,000 troops, I am afraid that he will be forced to switch from offensive to defensive," Wen Tingrui said, "Even if we know that Huaidong soldiers and horses are massively assembled in Yueqing, we still can't determine whether their initiative direction is Yongjia or Taizhou ......."

Taizhou was formerly known as Zhang'an, also known as Huipu. Located in the south of the Jiaojiang River, east of the Nanxi River and north of Yueqing Bay, the Taizhou Plain is the most important grain-producing area in southern Zhejiang, and there are more than 1.5 million acres of dry land in Huipu and Wenling counties alone. In the past, it was severely disturbed by the East China Sea invaders, but in recent years, agriculture has recovered rapidly. Although it cannot be compared with the land of fish and rice in the Suhu Plain, it is extremely precious in southern Zhejiang, where "seven points of mountains, one point of water, and two points of fields".

In addition to Taizhou being a rare and valuable land of fish and rice in southern Zhejiang, it is also the outer barrier of central Zhejiang. From Taizhou along the Jiaojiang River, through Linhai County can be clamped Tiantai, through Xianyou to the west can enter Quzhou, central Zhejiang, directly threatening the heart of the Zhejiang-Fujian army in western Zhejiang.

After the loss of Mingzhou Mansion, Taizhou is also the place where the Zhejiang-Fujian army must defend, with more than 10,000 elite soldiers stationed in Huipu (Taizhou Prefecture, now Taizhou City), Wenling two cities and Fanghai Zhuzhai. At the same time, it also blocked the waterway of the lower reaches of the Jiaojiang River to prevent Huaidong warships from driving directly into the waterway. However, Huaidong took Yueqing City as its base, and after controlling the walled forts along the coast of Yueqing Bay, the large army could cross the relatively gentle Tainan hills from the south and enter the territory of Wenling County, without the need to carry out a brutal landing operation under the watchful eye of the Taizhou defenders.

If the Zhejiang-Fujian army wants to regain the initiative in southern Zhejiang, it must press the soldiers and horses to Yueqing City, and even directly capture Yueqing City. To achieve this step, it is necessary to maintain absolute superiority in troops, but how easy is it to say!

Qin Zitan lamented in his heart: Huaidong controlled the sea route, and was able to assemble and transfer troops and various materials at a rapid speed, and they couldn't even figure out how many troops Huaidong had gathered in Yueqing. For the luxury family, only by delaying the situation, waiting for Yanhu to break through the Hehuai defense line, directly pointing the troops to the Huai River line, and attracting the troops of Jiangning and Huaidong to the north, can the luxury family regain the initiative.

The main force of the Huaidong Navy is pressed on the southern front, and it is difficult for the luxury family to regain control of the East China Sea from Huaidong, so they can only hope that Yanhu can see the irreplaceable role of the Huaidong Navy in strategy and attach importance to the construction of the navy.

The luxury family raised the flag twice in a short period of time to rebel against the Yuan family, and has lost the possibility of negotiating peace with Jiang Ning, even if Yan Hu gains momentum in the future and the luxury family is forced to join Yan Hu, but at least they can get a knighthood of the King of Fujian.

No matter how passive the situation is, persevering is the best choice for the luxury family and other Qimin clans.

************

In the middle of January of the second year of Yongxing, Tang Fuguan and Chen Dingbang led their troops into Yueqing, and the new southern Zhejiang army subordinate to the eastern Zhejiang camp was formally formed. The new southern Zhejiang army has a total of 15 battalions and 9,000 water infantry troops, with Tang Fuguan commanding the southern Zhejiang army with the rank of deputy commander, Chen Dingbang and Zuo Guangying as deputies, and Liu Wenzhong and Yang Zichen respectively leading Yueqing government affairs, food and salary, and city repairs......

In the most difficult time, Liu Wenzhong and Zuo Guangying gave up all the defenses and islands except Yueqing City and Jishan Island, and defended the city according to the sea. Because the Huaidong Navy and the Chongcheng Infantry Battalion cooperated to attack the southern Zhejiang and eastern Fujian coasts, the soldiers and horses of the luxury family in southern Zhejiang were also in a state of contraction defense, so the pressure on Yueqing was not great.

Only in the summer and autumn storm season, when the Huaishui Army returned to the garrison to recuperate in order to avoid the storm in the East China Sea, did it fight a few battles with the garrison of the luxury family in Yongjia to fight for control of the outer areas of Yueqing.

After Tang Fuguan and Chen Dingbang led their troops into Yueqing, Yueqing and the surrounding areas and islands of Yueqing Bay fell into the hands of the new southern Zhejiang army.

In mid-February, Zhou Tong led the main force of the 3rd Brigade of the Chongcheng Infantry Battalion into Yueqing, replacing Tang Fuguan and presiding over the war in southern Zhejiang. Hu Zhiyong also made a special trip to Yueqing to coordinate the material preparations for the war in southern Zhejiang.

On 25 February, the "Lin Zhengjun", escorted by a number of warships, anchored in Yueqing Port, and Lin Tie, accompanied by Fu Qinghe, Gao Zongting, Ye Junan, Zhou Pu and others, set foot on the land of southern Zhejiang for the first time.

"I came here with Fu Gong to boost morale and not interfere with your command of ......the battle," Lin got off the boat, stood on the paved stone ground of the port, and said to Zhou Tong, Liu Wenzhong, Tang Fuguan, Yang Zichen, Chen Yan and others who came out of the city to greet them.

After entering Yueqing and resting for a while, Lin Lian, Fu Qinghe, and Gao Zongting entered the official hall and listened to Zhou and others introduce the preparations for the war in southern Zhejiang and the proposed battle plan.

"Although the luxury family was on guard, there was a lack of troops on the eastern front, and in addition to recruiting more people from the local area, there was no sign of transferring troops from western Zhejiang and Dongyang County. In terms of troops, we are still in an advantageous position, and the enemy is defending many cities, we can concentrate our forces to attack one place, and the advantage will be more obvious," Zhou Tong, as the chief general of southern Zhejiang, personally came to Lin Jian and others to introduce the battle plan they had drawn up before, "We plan to send an elite out of Yanhu Lake, with the cooperation of the water camp warships, to attack Wenqiao Village from the north shore of Yueqing Bay, and make a situation of attacking Taizhou from Wenqiao, and attract the soldiers and horses of the luxury family on the eastern front line to the front line of Taizhou, but then attack Tianshui Village and clear the river barrier of the Yongjia River waterway, Make the water camp warships enter the waterway of the Yongjia River and separate the two cities of Ouhai and Yongjia......"

The so-called strategy is, fundamentally speaking, to do everything possible to form a superiority in forces to suppress the enemy, and this is true in strategy and tactics.

Even when forced to do so, the use of dangerous tactics is aimed at avoiding the enemy's superior forces and striking at the enemy's weak points by forming a local superiority in forces.

Opening up the battlefield in southern Zhejiang, even if it cannot succeed in forming a breakthrough in Yongjia and Taizhou, it will force the luxury family to invest more troops on the eastern front.

Now in eastern Zhejiang, the luxury family has been forced to invest 60,000 soldiers and horses; Under the attack and plundering of the Huaidong Naval Army, the luxury family will ensure that the foundation of eastern Fujian is not hollowed out, and the number of soldiers and horses deployed in eastern Fujian and southern Fujian has reached 60,000, as long as the luxury family is forced to invest 30,000 to 40,000 troops in southern Zhejiang, how many troops can the luxury family continue to keep in western Zhejiang?

This is the advantage of controlling the sea, Huaidong with less than 60,000 troops, at least able to contain more than twice the strength of the luxury family on the eastern front.

Once the strength of the luxury family in western Zhejiang drops to a certain extent, Dong Yuan, Deng Yu, Meng Yishan, Chen Huawen, and the envoys of the two systems in Jiangxi will lose no time in launching a counteroffensive to compete for military merit and territory.

For luxury families, in the case of the loss of the sea route, only by keeping the passage of western Zhejiang can we maintain contact with southern and eastern Zhejiang. For luxury families, the strategic position of western Zhejiang is better than that of southern and eastern Zhejiang.

Once Dong Yuan and others launched a counteroffensive against the troops and horses of the luxury family in western Zhejiang, they would inevitably force the luxury family to draw troops from eastern and southern Zhejiang to advance westward to ensure western Zhejiang. Of course, there is also a possibility, that is, after Jiang Ning feels that the military pressure of the luxury family on the western front has weakened, it is also likely to transfer troops to the north to strengthen the Hehuai defense line. This will share the pressure of Huaidong on the northern front, and it will also be beneficial to Huaidong on the whole.

In terms of overall strategy, Huaidong is bound to open up a new battlefield around Yueqing and quickly open the curtain of the war in southern Zhejiang.

After listening to Zhou Tong's report on the preparations for the war in southern Zhejiang, Lin Jian said: "You must actively recruit people from the local area to make up for the shortage of troops; The Huaidong Army also had to maintain its fine traditions in southern Zhejiang, and compared with the local landowners and gentry, Huaidong had to win the support of a larger number of tenants. Abolish the Ding tax forever; All the people who were recruited into the army and fought for Huaidong were rented from local landlords for farming, and the land rent should not exceed 30%; Huaidong could even pay the salary in advance to help Minyong redeem the land from the landlord. To make it seem to the poor people that they support the Huaidong Army, they will have land to plant, grain to eat, and houses to sit on. Even if they die on the battlefield, their families will receive bereavement and do not have to worry about their livelihood. For those gentry who were forced to surrender to the extravagant family, we must also know the righteousness, do a good job of fighting and winning over, as long as before the city is breached, in essence to Huaidong, those who support and support the role will no longer be held accountable for the previous rebellion, our only requirement for them is to ask them to sell rice and grain to Huaidong, and then support the new policy of reducing rent and clearing the fields and redeeming the fields! ”