With the warships of the Second Water Battalion as the main force, supplemented by requisitioned merchant ships, nearly 100 seagoing ships carrying tens of thousands of soldiers sailed from Nantai Island to the shore in batches, like arrows off the string, and returned north to eastern Zhejiang......

The 2nd Water Battalion warship escorted the troop carrier carrying the main force of the Chongcheng Army of the Left Army of the Infantry Division, and after arriving in the waters of Changguo Island, the troops were divided into two routes:

The troop transport ship was escorted by the warships belonging to the camp army in eastern Zhejiang, passed through the Laotangshan Port Strait, turned into the Qianjiang waterway, and sailed to Xiaoshan to dock, and the main force of the Chongcheng Army landed in Xiaoshan to serve his life. The main force of the 2nd Water Battalion continued to move north, entering the Yangtze River waterway from the northern waters of Shengsi Island to stand by.

Although Lin Jian took Lin Zhengjun first, but the speed was not as fast as there, and he landed from Hukou Port at night on the 12th, and then rushed to Xiaoshan by horse overnight to join Fu Qinghe.

At dawn, the ground is covered with white frost, the hooves step on the frost residue, in eastern Fujian do not feel the cold, go north to eastern Zhejiang, only to suddenly find that this season has entered the winter. I don't feel like riding a horse, I got off the horse outside Xiaoshan City, and the wind blew, so I felt cold, and I subconsciously wanted to put together the big suffocation to cover the wind.

"There are not enough winter clothes here in Xiaoshan?" Lin Jian asked Fu Qinghe and Liang Wenzhan who came up.

"It was not clear in advance that the army would definitely assemble in Xiaoshan, and the military department prepared supplies at the same time as Xiaoshan in Chongzhou, and Xiaoshan had a reserve of winter clothes for the Chongcheng army, and there was a shortage of 5,000 pieces. I have asked Sun Wenyao to buy used clothes from Xiaozhou, Huiji, Shanyin and other counties at a high price, and I should be able to make up for ...... tomorrow," Liang Wenzhan said.

When the soldiers and horses of the Chongcheng army went south, they did not prepare winter clothes, and Lin Jian was worried that the winter clothes on Xiaoshan's side were not enough. If it is still a cold day like last year, the thinly clothed soldiers in the barren mountains and wilderness will not be able to withstand the whole winter.

Lin Jian bowed slightly, the affairs of eastern Zhejiang were presided over by Fu Qinghe and Liang Wenzhan, there was nothing to worry about, the current situation, there was no way to buy old clothes from the people, and said: "Then go to the city, after riding a horse all night, the legs and feet are all in the territory, and the carriage was originally prepared for Zongting and Song Gong, but it turned over halfway, and I also rode over with it, and I suffered a lot, prepare some wine, and activate some muscles and bones......"

Only the elite generals who have been trained for a long time can travel hundreds of miles a day and bump on horseback for a night without tire, Lin Jian has personally supervised the battle these days, and he feels tired after riding a horse all night, Gao Zongting and Song Fu, if they are not supported by someone, they can't stand steadily-the situation is so urgent, and they can't rest at this time.

Song Jia wore a purple coat and came over to greet Lin Jian and others - Lin Jian went to Mindong to supervise the war, Song Jia was unwell at the time and couldn't stand the bumpy journey, so she stayed in Mingzhou to recuperate, and at this time she recovered her complexion.

Song Jia came to greet Fu Qinghe and Liang Wenzhan in the city, but came in a carriage, and went into the city at this time, and saw that Gao Zongting and his father had been riding a horse all night, so they gave them the carriage, and she rode a horse side by side with Lin Tie, enjoying the joy of getting together after farewell.

After going into the city to wash, eating hot soup and rice, and having no rest, everyone gathered together under the hall and discussed around the brazier.

"Luxury, Wenzhuang made up his mind to lure the Huinan army into the city, and there were ambushes in Feihuang and Yuyan, these two villages were originally behind Huangtian Village, and the wall was already thin, not to mention that it was taken by the Huinan Army in advance, Deng Yue could hold on to Feihuang for six days, which was already good," Fu Qinghe said, "Luo Wenhu surrendered to the enemy, Yu Bijiang was captured, and there is no news of Deng Yu for the time being, so I think he led the remnants to flee into the deep valley......

"Deng Yue does not surrender, and he will finally be able to contain part of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops on the back road, which is good news......" Lin Jian said, Deng Yue will fight to the death and not surrender, maybe there are his considerations: for example, his wife and children are in Huizhou City, if he surrenders, Xie Chaozhong will naturally pour all the sewage on his head, Yuling Pass is not broken, Xie Chaozhong should have enough time to send his wife and children to Jiangning to ask for guilt; It may also be that Deng Yue is not optimistic about the luxury family at all, maybe he doesn't think that Xie Chaozhong can't even hold Yuling Pass, no matter how difficult it is in front of him, he can get through it with gritted teeth, once he falls, he will eventually die with the defeat of the luxury family - but in any case, Deng Yue can fight to the death without surrendering, and he is a loyal general since the establishment of the Dayue Dynasty.

"When the back road of Huangtianzhai was cut off, most of the baggage and grain of the Huinan army were in Huangtianzhai, and the Huinan army held on to the end in Feihuangyu and Yuyan, and I am afraid that the food was almost exhausted, even if there were remnants fleeing into the deep valley, it would be greatly damaged because of the lack of food," Gao Zongting said, "From Yuling Pass, all the way to the north bank of the Qianjiang River, along both sides of Daqing Creek are lofty mountains, only a few Shanyi and Shanyue aborigines live, and since the luxury family wants to use the Daqingxi River Valley as a trap, they will naturally clean the deep valleys on both sides in advance. This meant that even if Deng Yu led the remnants of his army, he would not be able to find enough supplies in the deep valley. The remnants of the Huinan Army did not go east, and it is more likely that it will continue to ...... west."

"Zong Ting is saying that Deng Yu will cross Yishan to find Yue Lengqiu?" Lin Jian asked.

"There is indeed this possibility," Song Fu said, "the southern Huinan army is disabled, Deng Yue is not willing to surrender to Eastern Fujian, but he is also afraid that Xie Chaozhong will put the responsibility for the defeat on his head, except to go to Yue Lengqiu, he has no other way to think ......"

"Huaidong also welcomes him!" Lin Jian spread his hands and said.

Everyone laughed, Fu Qinghe said: "Yue Lengqiu can have such a status, he is not a general, the more Deng is he pulled it up, the more Deng Lengqiu does not take refuge in Yue Lengqiu, and comes to Huaidong, there is no reason for this." ”

"Although the Huinan army is remnant, but also consumed a considerable part of the strength of the Zhejiang-Fujian army, Xie Chaozhong is completely a pus, after the fall of Feihuang Yu had half a day for him to escape back to Yuling Pass, he even failed to detect in advance, but also attacked Huangtian Village, to the general Zheng Mingjing of Luwenzhuang in front of Huangtian Village by surprise, defeated and fled. Zheng Mingjing chased Xie Chaozhong and beat him hard, chased all the way to Yuling Pass, and took advantage of the chaos to take Yuling Pass. Deng Yu guarded the Yuling Pass, which had not been broken for several years, and it was destroyed in the hands of Xie Chaozhong in less than half a day. Huizhou then surrendered, and the grain and ordnance that Jiangning had stockpiled in Huizhou for the expedition to western Zhejiang also fell into the hands of the Zhejiang-Fujian army...... "Fu Qinghe continued to introduce the critical situation facing Jiangning at present.

Lin Jian pressed his hands heavily on the long case and didn't say a word.

"The situation is really as sinister as he wants!" Song Fu said with emotion.

The Huaidong Army in eastern Fujian, the Hanghu Army in Tonglu, and even the Huinan Army in the Daqingxi River Valley greatly consumed the strength of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies.

Since the beginning of autumn, one after another, the Zhejiang-Fujian army has lost at least 20,000 elites. Of course, the heavier loss is the ability of the luxury family to obtain supplies.

Jiangxi's grain fields are mainly concentrated along the shores of Poyang Lake.

There are nearly 10 million acres of grain fields in the plain along Poyang Lake, but the luxury family is currently only occupying Yuzhang in the southeast of Poyang Lake, and Hukou and Jiangzhou in the north of Poyang Lake are still under Yue Lengqiu's control, making the entire coastal plain of Poyang Lake a buffer zone for war, and naturally they will not provide money and grain to the luxury family.

If the luxury family wants to move to Jiangxi to gain a foothold, they will not even directly plunder the local area at this time.

The fall of eastern Fujian, in addition to the end of the hometown, also means the loss of the most important supply area of the Zhejiang and Fujian army. In the past half a year, the luxury family has moved a large number of people from the eastern coast of Fujian to the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, resettled in Jian'an Mansion, and even continued westward along Shanguan to settle in Jiangxi.

In front of him, Xie Chaozhong "sent" the grain and grass supplies hoarded in Huizhou to the luxury family.

At the beginning, in order to send troops from Yuling Pass to fight western Zhejiang, it was organized into a 60,000-strong army in western Zhejiang. In order to raise the war materials for the military in western Zhejiang, the household department and the inner government were eager to take out the bottoms and pants, and Emperor Yongxing also cut the expenses of the inner court and took out 100,000 taels of silver. At this time, it also cheapened the luxury family, and it became the material base to support the luxury family to carry out a long-term war on the outskirts of Jiangning, which really made people laugh and cry.

"Huizhou descended on the 8th, Zheng Mingjing led the outpost on the 10th to connect the two cities of Kejixi and Ningguo, and the soldiers and horses entered the periphery of Jiangning, at this time, a large number of soldiers and horses of the luxury family in western Zhejiang were rushing north through the Daqingxi River Valley, entering Huizhou through Yuling Pass, and assembling in Ningguo ...... north," Fu Qinghe continued.

"What is Meng Yishan's reaction? Did you send someone to contact Meng Yishan in the past two days? Lin Jian asked.

"Previously, Meng Yishan had suggested that he withdraw his troops from Tonglu and move to the vicinity of Dusong Pass, but Meng Yishan had a lot of concerns and did not agree," Fu Qinghe said, "but after the fall of Feihuangshan, Meng Yishan should have gotten the news earlier than us." He did not dare to storm Tonglu again, so he only sent someone to inform him that the Hanghu army retreated to the south bank of the Qianjiang River on 8 November, and went north along the Luzhu River to Linshui. But the speed of the luxury family was faster, and he took Ning Guo in ten days. Meng Yishan did not dare to go west from Dusong Pass to fight and seize Ningguo, but chose to continue north through Linshui and Anji, probably because he wanted to enter Jiangning first and compete for the king's first merit! Jiang Ning's edict has also arrived in Xiaoshan, do you want to read it? Liang Wenzhan said.

"It's okay not to read it," Lin Jian shook his head, he really didn't have any interest in Jiang Ning's edict at this time, and said, "Meng Yishan is afraid at first, and then he is greedy, I'm afraid that he will suffer first!" ”

"Isn't greed and fear a weakness that we are born with?" Gao Zongting said.

"It would ......be fine if Emperor Yongxing agreed to the Hanghu Army entering Jiangning City," Liang Wenzhan said.

Song Fu shook his head and said, "The imperial camp is full of 40,000 soldiers and horses in Jiangning, who would easily let a foreign army enter Jiangning City?" Chen Xiyan may be willing, but let Meng Yishan lead his troops into Jiangning, will Yu Xinyuan, Wang Xueshan, Wang Tian and others still have a way to live? The Hanghu army was in a hurry, most of them were sent to the south of Jiangning to stop the northward march of the Zhejiang-Fujian army, if Meng Yishan was a smart person, at most he would not be able to move again in Jingyi (now Yixing), it was best to stay in Huzhou! ”

"Maybe Meng Yishan will not be so aggressive, in addition to the navy and the soldiers and horses who stayed in Hangzhou and Hu, there should be only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses who went north with him to aid Jiangning...... Liang Wenzhan said.

Fu Qinghe shook his head, he didn't agree with Liang Wenzhan's judgment, and explained to Lin Bin: "In order to fight Tonglu, the Hanghu Army suffered heavy casualties, and it was only one step away from defeating Tonglu. When the news of the fall of Feihuang came over, I asked Sun Wenyao to go to Tonglu to see Meng Yishan on my behalf, I hoped that he would grit his teeth and knock Tonglu down first, at that time, the Hanghu Army and the navy could control the Qianjiang waterway on the periphery of Tonglu, and there were still conditions for fighting Tonglu, but Meng Yishan had already begun to withdraw his troops at that time, and in the end he was still greedy......"

"Too much greed will make people forget fear and danger, and they can't see the trap clearly, Meng Yishan is in a hurry to go north, it is to fight for the first merit of the king," Lin Jian was not very optimistic about the prospects of the Hanghu Army, and said, "In addition, Chen Xiyan also has a great influence on the Hanghu Army, and Chen Xiyan, who is in Jiangning, is most likely eager to hope that Meng Yishan will lead the Hanghu Army to approach Jiangning to help each other." Even if the Hanghu Army suffered a big loss, it would not be surprising. ”

"We can't catch up, from Ningguo to Jiangning, one horse and Pingchuan, only three hundred miles away," Gao Zongting said, "I'm afraid that the soldiers and horses in the front of the luxury family have already been assembled in Ningguo!" ”

There is a spacious post road to go in the plain, 300 miles of road, and it only takes three days for the foot soldiers to march quickly, while the Huaidong warship starts from Chongzhou and goes up the Yangtze River retrograde, and it takes five days to reach Jiangning. If you take the land route, starting from Xiaoshan, crossing the Qianjiang River, and borrowing the road from Hangzhou and Huzhou, you will have to walk nearly 600 miles, and the fastest will be three days later than the Zhejiang-Fujian army.

In the current situation, if the Huaidong Army rushes north, most of the Zhejiang-Fujian army will give up fighting Jiangning first, and fight the exhausted Huaidong Army in the southeast of Jiangning!

The 40,000 imperial battalion army is purely ornamental, and it will not make the Zhejiang-Fujian army fearful at all, and the soldiers and horses in the front of the Zhejiang-Fujian army can gather 25,000 to 30,000 elites, and another 30,000 elites can be drawn from central Zhejiang and Jiangxi to the north, and the speed will not even be much slower than that of the Huaidong army.

At present, there are only 20,000 elite foot soldiers of the Chongcheng Army in Xiaoshan, and they have not yet recovered from the war in eastern Fujian, and there is still a shortage of winter clothes.

If the Chongcheng army rushed 600 miles to the periphery of Jiangning and ran into the main force of the Zhejiang-Fujian army, which had entered Jiangning one step earlier and had a maximum of 60,000 troops, what would be the result, and he could think of it with his fingers.

At present, it is expected that the 40,000 imperial battalion troops in Jiangning will be able to hold Jiangning City after surviving the initial panic.

As for Huaidong's attitude towards Jiangning, it was decided before the war, but it was ignored for now.

The luxury family seized the grain and grass of the former western Zhejiang army from Huizhou, and there was no problem of fighting quickly and quickly; If the 40,000 imperial battalion troops can't hold Jiangning City for a month or two, even if it falls, they can't complain about Huaidong.

Huaidong still has to fight Huaidong first.

It's a pity that the Hanghu army didn't grit its teeth and knock down Tonglu first, it wasn't Huaidong who borrowed the road from Tonglu to attack Chun'an directly along the Qianjiang River, and it was also the best policy to drag most of the soldiers and horses of the luxury family in western Zhejiang and not dare to go north.

Lin Jian asked Fu Qinghe: "The soldiers and horses of the luxury family in Dongyang County should be almost drawn, right?" ”

"There are still 5,000 defenders," Fu Qinghe said, "but according to the information gathered, half of them are newly recruited soldiers, and less than half of the dead soldiers who are truly loyal to the luxury family should be ......."

"Alas, Luwenzhuang put a bait, just to let us eat it, he can't make us eat comfortably, after all, this bait is used by him to delay time!" Gao Zongting said.

"The matter of fighting Dongyang County is handed over to Zhang Gou to be responsible; Chen Kuili's headquarters of the eastern Zhejiang camp army was also transferred to assist in the siege of the city, and after seeing blood, he could also use it to defend Dongyang with confidence in the future; Ao Canghai led his troops down first," Lin Jian said, "Zhezhong can't fight anyway, and it doesn't make much sense for the main force of the Changshan Army to stay on the periphery of Dongyang, so it's better to come down first and prepare......"

From Tonglu to Quzhou Lanxi County, there is a valley road feasible, after Huaidong conquered Dongyang County, to continue to go deep into the valley of central Zhejiang, and even to hit Shanghuan and Xinzhou, you must first capture Tonglu, so as not to worry about catching turtles in the urn.

The luxury family deployed few elite troops in Dongyang County, but the soldiers and horses in Tonglu were relatively sufficient. The luxury family wanted to guard against the entire back road of the northward march to Huaidong, and the other was to call Huaidong not to go deep into Zhejiang; Otherwise, the soldiers and horses of the luxury family going north can fight back the carbines, give up Jiangning first, and a large number of soldiers and horses will enter the back road of the Huaidong Army from Tonglu in the middle of Zhejiang Valley first.

"In the final analysis, the biggest headache at the moment is Yue Lengqiu's reaction," Gao Zongting said, "Jiang Ning should have an edict to go to Jiangzhou and Shouzhou. We can block the Huaixi soldiers and horses from crossing the river, if Yue Lengqiu can't bear it and go back to Jiangning first, and we don't catch up, this problem is also very tricky! ”

"For Yue Lengqiu, it is more likely that he will only leave a small number of soldiers and horses in Jiangzhou, and he will personally lead the army into the periphery of Jiangning to wait and see the situation," Song Fu said, "Yue Lengqiu should have better patience than Meng Yishan, but it is difficult to ask him to stay in Jiangzhou without moving, and it is difficult to ......."

Jiangzhou relied on Jiangning's supply for everything, and Yue Lengqiu couldn't learn from Lin Lian to treat Emperor Yongxing's edict as stinky shit, and he didn't even look at it. Jiang Ning will not fall, Yue Lengqiu will not move, and he will be held accountable afterwards; Jiangning has fallen, and Jiangzhou will also be cut off from supplies and will be in trouble - Yue Lengqiu is in Jiangzhou, it is difficult to sit still like Huaidong, if Yue Lengqiu lures it out, Jiangzhou will be in danger.

Compared with Jiangning, the first goal of the luxury family should be Jiangzhou, Jiangzhou, the situation in Jiangxi can be complete, in order to completely occupy the entire Poyang Lake Plain, and the luxury family can have a place to recuperate and recover.

Considering the overall situation, Yue Lengqiu should stay in Jiangzhou and not move, but it is a pity that Emperor Yongxing will not take into account the overall situation and ask Yue Lengqiu to hold Jiangzhou and not save Jiangning - compared to the risk of staying in Jiangzhou, Yue Lengqiu may get too much benefit by leading troops to aid Jiangning, and may even replace Chen Xiyan as the first assistant and master the Jiangning garrison.

Compared with this, Jiangzhou's gains and losses must not be so important in Yue Lengqiu's eyes.

However, Huaidong had the means to prevent Dong Yuan's Huaixi soldiers and horses from crossing the river, but he did not have the certainty of blocking Yue Lengqiu's soldiers and horses from advancing eastward.

"Alas, even if the luxury family temporarily occupies Jiangzhou, even if Jiangning is lost, the situation is not too bad to be out of control," Lin Jian said, "Send someone to Hangzhou tomorrow and tell them clearly that the Huaidong soldiers and horses will borrow from Hangzhou, and the Han Caizhi Department of the Zhejiang-Fujian Xingying Army will be incorporated into the Changshan Army from now on." It's been a long time since I've been in an open place, and I've had a good fight. ”

Although Lin Jian had only come to Xiaoshan to supervise the battle, he knew the deployment of troops in eastern Zhejiang.

"If the luxury family takes Jiangning, we will march west from Huzhou, forcibly cut off the communication between Huizhou and Jiangning, and force the luxury family to come out to fight?" Gao Zongting asked.

"Of course," Lin Jian said, "How could Jiang Ning be called a luxury family?" ”

Even taking into account the casualties of the Changshan army's attack on Dongyang County, the final Huaidong infantry assembled in Xiaoshan for deployment will reach 50,000 people; On the Yangtze River, the Hailing Army, which was temporarily reorganized in the middle of the year, and the main force of the Second Water Battalion led by Ge Cunxin, who was about to rush to converge, also had nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses.

Even if the luxury family transferred all the main forces under his command to the vicinity of Jiangning, Lin Jian also had the heart to fight a general battle in the past.

Song Fu smiled slightly, theoretically, the luxury family took Jiangning and Jiangzhou, and could connect the thousands of miles west of Jiangning and Huizhou to Jiangzhou, but the luxury family needed time to digest.

It takes time for the extravagant flying bear to attack Jiangzhou, from Jiangzhou, Hukou, Chizhou, and Yicheng are all big cities on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and after they are captured one by one, Jiangzhou can be regarded as connected with Jiangning, which takes a lot of time.

Yue Lengqiu led the main force of Jiangzhou to the east, and he could transfer 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses, with Yue Lengqiu's old strategy, even if he would give up Jiangzhou, he would leave a way back for himself between Chizhou and Yicheng.

In between, as long as Huaidong can cut into the relationship between Huizhou and Jiangning, and cut off the one-line connection between Huizhou and Jiangning, even if the luxury family occupies Jiangning City, they will be restless in Jiangning City.