The sky was already dark, the big candle was burning, and bad news was constantly coming along the east coast, and everyone in the Ming Jing Pavilion sat all night, everyone's face was ugly, and their thoughts were heavy.

Song Bojing sat down, and in his opinion, the day had finally arrived.

Not counting the counties in southern Zhejiang, the coastal areas of eastern Fujian are under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Governor's Office of Zhejiang and Fujian, from Guanshan in the north to Raoping in the south, a total of 15 counties are directly adjacent to the sea.

There are many mountains and few fields in eastern Fujian, and a small amount of grain-producing areas are almost all concentrated in the coastal plain area, and the taxes and grain paid by these 15 counties account for almost two-thirds of the entire county in eastern Fujian. The five coastal counties of Jin'an Prefecture, including Xiapu, Jiaocheng and Lianjiang, were the core areas under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office of Zhejiang and Fujian, and they were also exposed to the attack range of Huaidong warships at this time.

Due to the lack of clarity about Huaidong's intentions, the Metropolitan Governor's Office could only order all counties to strengthen their defenses for the time being.

In the past two years, Zhejiang and Fujian have been dispatching elites to strengthen western Zhejiang, and if they want to find opportunities to break through into Jiangxi and southern Huinan from the western front, the troops gathered in eastern Zhejiang are also stronger than the base camp of Jin'an.

Although there are still 20,000 elites left in Jin'an, most of them are stationed in Jin'an City, and the naval force is the strongest in the water camp of Nantai Island, which guards the gateway to the Minjiang River, and the garrison forces in other coastal prefectures and counties are very weak, and there are only three or five hundred sword and archers in many counties.

These counties don't say that they went out of the city to intercept the Huaidong army to land, once the Huaidong landed more than 1,000 soldiers, I am afraid that even the county and county towns may fall.

At the beginning, Hao Feixiong led the East China Sea soldiers to plunder the prefectures and counties along the Taihu Lake, and the core combat strength was only three or four thousand, but he was able to break through the seven cities along the Taihu Lake in two or three months, and the vitality of Pingjiang Mansion and Danyang Mansion was greatly damaged.

At that time, everyone in Jin'an felt very happy, and at this time, they thought that they might be forced to swallow the same bitter fruit, and their mood was completely different.

After the news came that Pingtan Fort was likely to be captured and that Huaidong had infantry troops landing on Le'an Island in the eastern sea of Xiapu County, Sima Deng Yu, a pawn farmer, suggested that elites should be immediately dispatched from Jin'an to strengthen the defense of the coastal counties.

Song Bo saw that Hao Wenzhuang frowned slightly, and he should not be satisfied with Deng Yu's suggestion, so he suggested: "At this time, I haven't figured out the number of troops in Huaidong's attack on Jin'an this time, and I can't even figure out Huaidong's intention to attack, so I think it's not appropriate to divide the troops!" ”

The Metropolitan Governor remained silent and did not say anything, Qin Zitan and the others observed the words and expressions, and could also understand that it was impossible for the Metropolitan Governor to hastily divide his troops to defend the counties at this time. The troops are scattered, in case Huaidong's troops to attack Jin'an this time are unexpectedly large, and Huaidong gathers troops to attack Nantai Island, what should it do?

It's going to be even more embarrassing!

The Metropolitan Governor will not make this low-level mistake, first of all, it is necessary to find out the number of troops in Huaidong's attack, which requires Nantai Island to put more sentinel ships out to reconnoitre.

Judging from Huaidong's strong attack on Pingtan Island last night, Huaidong's troops will not be too small this time.

Deng Yu retorted to Song Bo, and when he saw that no one stood up to help him speak, he knew that his suggestion was not good, and after glancing at Song Jiazi, he sat in his seat and did not say anything more.

"Is it a herald to Zhedong, so that Su Tingzhan will lead the sailors to attack Huaidong?" Shang Sima Wen Ruyun suggested.

Wen Ruyun's words resonated with many people, we can't sit back and watch the Huaidong Army act recklessly and inaction along the coast of Eastern Fujian, and the retaliatory invasion of Huaidong by the Zhedong Navy Division can force the Huaidong Rush fleet to retreat!

Qin Zitan glanced at Song Bo, who was sitting opposite, and saw that he shook his head slightly, obviously disagreeing with Wen Ruyun's suggestion, and wondered in his heart: When did Song Bo have such a sober understanding of Huaidong Water Master?

Although he knew that it was a bit risky for the Eastern Zhejiang Navy Division to attack, if there was no action here, no matter whether the coastal prefectures and counties suffered serious losses, the blow to the morale of Zhejiang and Fujian would be difficult to estimate.

Hao Wenzhuang's gaze swept over everyone, and finally landed on the second son Hao Feihu, and asked, "Feihu, what do you think?" ”

The fiasco two years ago made Luxury Feihu's voice in Jin'an drop to a very low level, and even if he had any suggestions during the military discussion, he often gave everyone a light on him.

In the case of basically determining the eldest prince Yu Feixiong as the heir, people like Wen Ruyun, Deng Yu, Hu Zongguo and others will not give Hao Feihu any face.

Luxury Wenzhuang can also accurately grasp the mentality of the subordinates, so when the military discussion is public, it rarely consults the opinions of Luxury Feihu; However, Hao Wenzhuang also knew in his heart that the people of Zhejiang and Fujian who stayed in Jin'an could have a deep understanding of Huaidong, and there were only a few people in Feihu and Qin Zitan.

Fu Feihu propped up the table with his hands and said, "It's not appropriate. Yesterday, Vice General Shi rashly went to sea, which has caused a lot of setbacks to the water camp on Nantai Island, and he didn't know that Huaidong's attack this time was not to lure the eastern Zhejiang water division to fight? ”

Lure the snake out of the hole!

Qin Zitan was also worried about this.

"Ordered Zhedong to guard the walled city, and the Zhedong Navy Division went to war, and it seems that Huaidong did not give Huaidong the opportunity to take advantage of, no matter how bad the situation is, it is better than being passive at this time." Wen Chengyun said.

Qin Zitan felt a big headache: the meaning of the extravagant flying tiger was that he was worried that the eastern Zhejiang naval division would be lured out to fight at sea, and he was worried about the plan to lure the snake out of the hole in Huaidong; Wen Chengyun understood that after the battle of the Eastern Zhejiang Naval Division, the emptiness of the defense of Mingzhou Mansion might give Huaidong the opportunity to sneak attack, thinking that Huaidong was diverting the tiger from the mountain.

Lead the snake out of the hole, tune the tiger away from the mountain, a snake, a tiger, a thousand miles of error.

The reason for such a misunderstanding is, to put it bluntly, that Wen Chengyun and others do not have a deep understanding of naval warfare, and they still think that the East Zhejiang Naval Division with 20,000 troops is still the most powerful existence in the East China Sea, and they also think that the defeat in the East China Sea two years ago is caused by the poor personal leadership of the Flying Tiger!

Qin Zitan saw that the back of the hand of the Fei Tiger propped up on the table was bruised, and he knew that he was angry.

Because of the defeat in the East China Sea, he sat on the cold bench for two years, and he was taken lightly by everyone, and no one would be in a good mood.

"Lord Wen misunderstood the second son," Qin Zitan said, "Zitan thought that the Zhedong Navy Division and the Huaidong Navy would fight at sea, and the chances of victory were not good!" I think that the eastern part of Zhejiang also has such an understanding, so in the past two years, I have been reluctant to send troops to attack and disturb Huaidong! ”

Qin Zitan's words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, and Wen Chengyun, Deng Yu and others all looked at each other.

Wen Chengyun blocked Qin Zitan, and it was inconvenient to refute immediately, Deng Yu questioned on the side: "Is Zitan exaggerating?" ”

Qin Zitan saluted to Haowenzhuang and said, "Even if the Eastern Zhejiang Naval Division has a chance of winning the battle against the Huaidong Naval Division, it is too risky for Eastern Zhejiang......

Luxury Wenzhuang nodded, the opponent in the east of Zhejiang is Dong Yuan, the main force of the East Zhejiang Navy Division fights, even if it can give Huaidong a heavy setback, it will not be of great help to improve the situation of the eastern front, on the contrary, if it is a heavy setback, the eastern front will fall into complete passivity.

The lower reaches of the Qianjiang River were unusually open, and once the eastern Zhejiang naval division suffered a setback, Dong Yuan would be able to rest assured that the main force under his command would be concentrated on the Huzhou line in the west, which would greatly restrict their deployment to break through from the western front.

Hao Wenzhuang asked: "Will it work if the Eastern Zhejiang Navy Division sends a small force to disturb the attack?" ”

Qin Zitan turned his head sideways and asked Yu Feihu: "What does the second son think?" "Huaidong's situation, he had a full discussion with Luxury Feihu, and Luxury Feihu regained the right to speak in Jin'an Mansion, so he had the opportunity to go out of the way. In the face of Luxury Wenzhuang's inquiry, Qin Zitan was more willing to give up the opportunity to Luxury Feihu.

Qin Zitan avoided answering, and Hao Wenzhuang had no opinion, and looked at the second son Hao Feihu again.

"Lin Jian repaired the Han seawall in Huaidong, built a fort every 30 miles along the Han seawall, and deployed 60,000 or 70,000 troops along the line, which actually formed a tight blockade defense line. On the periphery of the seawall is the jurisdiction of the Lianghuai Salt Iron Zone, and the Zhedong Navy Division sent a small force to infiltrate the past and intrude on the Lianghuai Salt Zone. Fei Fei Hu said.

Luxury Feihu's opinion is very clear: the whole division of the eastern Zhejiang Navy Division is dispatched, and there is a risk of rash fighting; Small-scale invasions could not cause substantial damage to Huaidong at all.

Haowenzhuang frowned and fell into deep thought, the coastline of Huaidong is much shorter than that of Zhejiang and Fujian.

When Huaidong Xingshi mobilized the crowd to repair and defend the seawall, others only saw Huaidong spending money and silver; When the seawall was about to take shape, it suddenly became clear that the seawall was actually a coastal defense network for Huaidong.

The post fort from Jiangmen to Hecheng is more dense, almost ten or twenty miles is one, and the road network in the direction of Chongcheng is dense, even if the Huaidong cavalry starts from Chongcheng, it can support any post fort in two hours.

The limited cavalry in Zhejiang and Fujian are concentrated in western Zhejiang, and the cavalry in Jin'an City adds up to less than one battalion, and they are all close guards of Luwenzhuang. This also caused Jin'an's troops to take longer to support the coast.

For a long time, Jin'an has not been threatened from the sea, and its coastal defenses are weak.

If you want to learn from Huaidong and build a coastal defense system, it will take twenty or thirty years, and you may be able to do it calmly; If you want to do it in two or three years, the finances of Zhejiang and Fujian will be directly dragged down; Don't expect the western direction of Zhejiang to maintain any offensive posture against Huinan and Jiangxi.

The key is in this line of defense, how many troops should Zhejiang and Fujian deploy?

Wen Chengyun, Deng Yu and others all looked at each other, and their understanding of Huaidong was far less profound than that of Su Tingzhan and others who stayed in Mingzhou Mansion. When the army of Zhejiang and Fujian faced tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Jiangxi and southern Huinan on the western front, they could still maintain a positive and strong posture, but at this time, on the eastern front, they were helpless against Huaidong, which had only risen in two or three years, which made them somewhat unacceptable.

"According to what the second son has seen, what is the chance of winning the decisive battle between the water division of eastern Zhejiang and Huaidong?" Deng Yu asked hesitantly.

The sea route was cut off, and the interests of the families were damaged, that is for sure - the Deng clan mainly gathered in Xiapu and Jiaocheng, and they were directly threatened by the Huaidong warships. Although Deng Yu did not have a deep understanding of naval warfare, he knew how serious the damage caused by the control of the East China Sea in the early years to the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang and Jiangdong was serious, otherwise he would not be able to conquer eastern Zhejiang, and no one wanted to copy the same set back then.

If the Zhedong Water Division has a greater chance of winning, Deng Yu and they will still support the first battle.

It is really difficult for him to answer, he can guess that this time he is likely to have the opportunity to directly lead the troops, but the odds of winning are not great, go to eastern Zhejiang to lead the troops, is it not to carry the black pot again?

In the past two years, he has repeatedly emphasized the need to develop the combat capability of the water battalion in the far sea, but he has turned a deaf ear, but at this time he came to ask what is the chance of winning the battle?

After hesitating for a long time, Yu Feihu said dejectedly: "Maybe you should send someone to ask your eldest brother or Su Tingzhan their opinion!" ”

"The messenger sent to see Duke Song should be back, what is the opinion of the Duke of Song?" Wen Ruyun said impatiently.

After sitting all night, bad news kept coming from the periphery, but everyone was helpless, and everyone was inevitably a little impatient.

Hearing Wen Ruyun mention Song Fu, Qin Zitan looked at Song Fu's son Song Bo, and secretly said that Song Fu had been ill in Quanzhou for two years, and sent his eldest son Song Bo to work in Jin'an Mansion, and he had been sick for too long?

Song Bo saw that everyone else saw it, and said, "Xu is almost ...... My father was bedridden when he was sick in Quanzhou, and the counties of Quanzhou were also exposed to the threat of Huaidong warships, so my father would probably send a messenger to Jin'an for help! ”

Hao Wenzhuang felt a headache, and he and Song Fu had differences in many aspects. Song Fu has been recuperating in Quanzhou for the past two years, and he refuses to come to Jin'an, so he can't say anything.

"Let's go back and rest first, and in the afternoon, there should be more detailed news." As for whether the Zhedong Navy Division wants to fight, I will immediately send someone to ask Zhedong's opinion. ”

Wen Chengyun, Deng Yu and others retired, and Hao Wenzhuang said to Hao Feihu and Qin Zitan: "Feihu, Zitan, you stay, I have other things to ask you......"