(Two chapters combined into one chapter)

In late April, Hangzhou City has a little bit of the heat of early summer, in the past, talented and beautiful people will visit West Lake at this time, but Fuyang, Linshui to Zhejiang and Fujian rebels occupied, the outer camp into Hangzhou is only twenty or thirty miles recently, who dares to put their heads on their waists at this time, go outside the city to swim West Lake?

The coast of Xizi Lake in the southwest of Hangzhou is inaccessible, except for a group of horse infantry on the north shore dragging heavy steps to the east, Tingting Lake is beautiful, but no one appreciates the beauty.

The water of Xizi Lake is connected with the Qianjiang River, and because the Huaidong and Zhejiang-Fujian armies blocked the location of the Qianjiang waterway, it is upstream of the mouth of the West Lake, so it is relatively less dangerous to enter the West Lake from the Qianjiang River to the city of Hangzhou by boat.

Behind Chen Mingzhe's hand, Zhuo Li bowed the boat, looking at the devastated land along the coast of Xizi Lake, there was a knot in his heart, and he couldn't vent it.

Chen Mingzhe left the dynasty a month ago, and became an important chess piece of the Wu Party's power to divide Dong Yuan in northern Zhejiang.

Chen Mingzhe has lived in his hometown for a long time since he was the top student in Chongguan's nine-year high school and became famous all over the world, and his official entry time was a little more than two years. In the past two years, Chen Mingzhe has been in the official residence of the fifth grade, and the speed of promotion is also rare in the world, in addition to the troubled times and the promotion of talents is eclectic, it also benefits from his teacher-student relationship with Chen Xiyan.

Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang is not as strong as before, but after all, he is still the envoy of northern Zhejiang, Chen Mingzhe went to Jiaxing Mansion to rectify political affairs a little, and rushed to Hangzhou to meet Dong Yuan.

Ji Liang, who accompanied the feudal clan, was also a member of the Wu Party, and he was well-known in Jiangning, but the scientific examination was unfavorable, and he failed to pass the scientific examination to enter the official career in his forties, and he was also a little discouraged, so he ran over to Chen Mingzhe as a staff member and gave advice.

"It's strange to say," Fan Jiliang stood behind Chen Mingzhen and said, "Yan Tie sent Fan Wenhui to Yueqing by boat, intending to take over the salt affairs in southern Zhejiang. According to the reason, if Lin Huaidong didn't break Fan Wen's leg and drive him away, he would already give Zhang Yan a lot of face, how could he really recommend Fan Wenbin to serve as the Tongzhi of Yongjia Mansion, specializing in salt affairs in southern Zhejiang? ”

Lin Tie was named the Marquis of Huaidong, and he was already a rare dignitary in the world, and the world did not call him by his name, but mostly replaced him with Lin Huaidong.

"Xu is Lin Huaidong to exchange the salt matter in southern Zhejiang, Jiang Ning agrees to Huaidong's other personnel arrangements for the counties in southern Zhejiang...... "This trip will serve as the general judge of Hangzhou Wang Yue, and Chen Mingzhe is a fellow villager of Haiyu, and has a good relationship with Fan Jiliang, about forty years old, when speculating on Huaidong's intention to give up the benefits of the salt matter in southern Zhejiang, the mustache on his lips trembled.

Chen Mingzhe did not respond to the speculation of Fan Jiliang and Wang Yue.

Lin Tie has a talent in political affairs and military affairs, and his actions are jumpy, imaginative, and very people can speculate, I don't know where the source is, but there is a fox in the East China Sea called Lin Tie to show his cunning - Chen Mingzhen has been in contact with Huaidong for many years, and he has a deep understanding of this.

Chen Mingzhen was absent-minded, but it did not hinder the conversation between Fan Jiliang and Wang Yue.

Fan Jiliang shook his head and said: "The salt and iron division and the salt merchants are completely excluded, the counties in southern Zhejiang have a year of salt profits, let alone two or three hundred thousand silver, Huaidong fights southern Zhejiang, it takes a lot of effort, and the imperial court relies on Huaidong on the eastern front, I am afraid that Zhang Yan has never really thought about being able to fight for the salt profits in southern Zhejiang - who knows how long the war on the eastern front will last, even if Huaidong agrees that Jiangning will appoint officials to southern Zhejiang at this time, no one is willing to suffer this?" Lin Huaidong can catch these two benefits, how can he say that he will exchange one for the other? ”

"Although Lin Huaidong is domineering, he is still loyal to the new emperor - Lin Huaidong may not want to be too greedy and become the target of public criticism." Wang Yue said.

"Lord Wang is very wrong when he thinks so," Fan Jiliang shook his head to question Wang Yue's speculation, and asked Chen Mingzhen again, "Lord Chen, do you think Lin Jian will have a heart of restraint?" ”

"The world is unpredictable, people's hearts are unpredictable," Chen Mingzhen said vaguely, "What does Lin Huaidong think in his heart, how can you and I know everything?" It's better not to guess yet. ”

Chen Mingzhe was in a high position when he was young, and Fan Jiliang was convinced, but after all, he recruited Chen Mingzhe as a staff member, and he should regard it as the main thing, Chen Mingzhe said this, Fan Jiliang no longer talked about the salt matter in southern Zhejiang, looked at the majestic figure of Hangcheng in the distance, and asked: "My lord is coming to Hangzhou, Dong Yuan probably won't be too happy in his heart......

Chen Mingzhen thought to himself: How could Dong Yuan be happy?

Before March last year, Dong Yuan monopolized power in northern Zhejiang, and today, after the fiasco in Fuyang, although the military department of northern Zhejiang is still headed by Dong Yuan, it is in charge of the local military and political affairs and defense affairs in northern Zhejiang, but Dong Yuan is far from monopolizing power.

After the fiasco of Fuyang, the Northern Zhejiang Military Division was reorganized, and the total number of soldiers and horses was restored to 60,000, but the soldiers and horses directly under the jurisdiction of Dong Yuan were extremely damaged, and the Ning Navy of Meng Yishan and the Haiyu Army of Chen Huawen occupied an advantage in the strength of the Northern Zhejiang Army.

In terms of local officials in Jia, Hangzhou, and Hu, after the new emperor ascended the throne, large-scale adjustments were also carried out, such as Chen Mingzhe, Wang Yue and other officials of the Wu Party lineage, replacing the officials who had been wooed by Dong Yuan in Zhejiang County.

In such a situation, how could Dong Yuan be happy in his heart?

After the new emperor ascended the throne, Chen Xiyan served as the first assistant, in addition to consolidating the defense line between the north and the south, opening up sources and reducing expenditure, the most important thing was to plot to weaken the threat and hidden danger posed by the local vassal forces to the Jiangning regime, and strengthen the imperial court's control over the local area.

Neither Chen Xiyan, nor Yu Xinyuan, nor any other Wu Party officials had the ambition to divide the region militarily and fight against the imperial court—the interests of the Wu Party were the same as those of the new emperor on issues such as weakening the power of local vassal commanders and strengthening the centralization of power in Jiangning.

The new emperor is not a dumb king, he has a thorough view of the situation in Jianghuai during the two or three years that King Ning has been in Jiangning.

As far as local forces are concerned, the Jianghuai region is dominated by the Dongyang and Wu parties. After the Dongyang system was broken, Gu Wuchen went north to Qingzhou, and the Dongyang system was headed by Huaidong. If the new emperor wants to sit firmly in Jiangning, he can't do without the support of local forces, and between the new Dongyang department and the Wu party, he knows who to vote for even with his eyes closed.

Of course, to reduce the power of the local vassal marshal, neither the new emperor nor Chen Xiyan dared to rashly test the knife with Huaidong, and even did not touch Lin Tingli, who had a close relationship with Huaidong.

Dong Yuan just had no ability to resist, so he could only accept Jiangning's many arrangements, and after supporting the new emperor, Dong Yuan honestly only focused on military affairs and defense, and people stayed in Hangzhou, and even returned the local military equipment and prevention and control rights to the prefecture and county.

"Will Dong Yuan be so honest?" Chen Mingzhen thought to himself, "Jiang Ning's power to Dong Yuan, will Lin Jian feel cold and interfere?" Or that there has been collusion between Dong Yuan and Lin Jian for a long time, after all, after Li Zhuo's death, Gao Zongting and others all took refuge in Huaidong, and Dong Yuan and them were all out of Li Zhuo's ......"

Although it was quite smooth to know the affairs of Jiaxing Prefecture, Chen Mingzhen still had deep worries about the development of the situation in northern Zhejiang in the future!

The ferry went north, and Hangcheng got closer and closer, and Fan Jiliang suddenly felt as if he was touched by something, and said abruptly: "Huaidong has become a big problem. Since Huaidong is fighting so fiercely and inseparably with the luxury family on the eastern front, is the western front more relaxed, and let the luxury family's soldiers and horses in western Zhejiang advance eastward, and fight with Huaidong to lose both? ”

"Watching the fire from the other side?" Wang Yue said suspiciously.

Chen Mingzhen shook his head and said: "It must not be like this, and it doesn't matter whether Deng Yu, Dong Yuan and Jiangxi will cooperate - not afraid of 10,000, just afraid of extravagant flying bears in case they do the opposite." If Extravagant Feixiong avoids a decisive battle with Huaidong on the Eastern Front, and takes advantage of our relaxation on the Western Front, suddenly storms Huzhou or Ningguo, and forces Huaidong to withdraw troops from the Eastern Front by encircling Wei and saving Zhao, then we will be lifting a stone and shooting ourselves in the foot! ”

In fact, before Chen Mingzhe came to northern Zhejiang, he knew that Chen Xiyan, Yu Xinyuan, and Zhang Yan had many secret discussions on this matter, but after all, he felt that it was too dangerous and there was a possibility of playing with fire and self-immolation.

In fact, since the capture of Fuyang and Linshui in March last year, and then the occupation of Qianqiu Pass and Dusong Pass, Jiangning's situation on the western front is very dangerous, and he does not dare to relax in the slightest. The soldiers and horses of the luxury family in western Zhejiang, not only are the soldiers directly aimed at the heart of Jiahang Lake and Huizhou, but Jiangning will also be directly threatened by the slightest surprise.

Even if the main force of the luxury family in western Zhejiang is to advance eastward and fight a decisive battle with Huaidong on the eastern front, the defense line on the western front must at least be restored to the position before March last year, so that people can rest assured - otherwise it is likely to play with fire and self-immolation; At this point, it's too late to cry.

Moreover, Huaidong is by no means a good stubble.

At this time, the imperial court relied on Huaidong too much, and it was good to play this kind of small action to hide from Huaidong; Can't hide Huaidong, what if Huaidong fully shrinks on the eastern front? I'm afraid it's several times more serious than lifting a stone on my own feet.

On the western front, Jiangning did not dare to set the enemy east to harm Huaidong after all, but the main intention was to defend steadily.

Specific to Dong Yuan, Deng Yu and others, Chen Mingzhen thought to himself that their minds would probably be very different.

Jiangning wanted to be safe, but Deng Yue guarded Huinan, and was threatened by the luxury flying tiger from the three directions of Yuling Pass, Qianqiu Pass, and Dusong Pass. For him, it is not possible to sleep peacefully by holding Huizhou City, at least to take back the two important passes of Qianqiu Pass and Dusong Pass, so that he can breathe a sigh of relief.

Dong Yuan's current situation is related to the defeat of Fuyang last year, Chen Mingzhe speculated in his heart that Dong Yuan was probably also eager to regain Fuyang from the hands of Luxury Flying Bear, right?

Of course, compared with the unrealistic strategic fantasy of arrising the enemy to the east and reaping the benefits of the fisherman, Chen Mingzhe himself also hoped that the northern Zhejiang army could take the initiative to recover Linshui, Fuyang and other places with a more positive attitude, and drive the Zhejiang-Fujian rebels out of northern Zhejiang.

After the fall of Fuyang and Linshui, a large area of fertile land centered on Hangcheng and Deqing was affected by the war and became a buffer zone for the enemy and us to carry out tug-of-war operations, and only Jiaxing Prefecture remained intact. A large number of people have fled, the fields have been abandoned, and no one has cultivated them, and since June last year, the taxes that the three northern Zhejiang provinces can provide have been reduced. However, a large number of people fled to Pingjiang, Danyang, Jiaxing and other places to avoid the scourge of war, which exacerbated the food shortage in these areas.

Jiaxing counties face the sea, over the years the development is worse than the two prefectures of Hangzhou and Lake, even if Chen Mingzhe has the intention to implement a new policy in Jiaxing Prefecture and Huaidong, it is not a moment to be effective, to make a fundamental change in the situation in northern Zhejiang, the recovery of Fuyang, Linshui is the key.

But obviously, it is impossible for Luxury Flying Bear to give up Fuyang.

In addition to maintaining deterrence against Jiangning and weakening the military potential of the three northern Zhejiang provinces, the occupation of Fuyang by the Zhejiang-Fujian rebels itself controlled the middle reaches of the Qianjiang waterway, which was the most important area connecting the Zhejiang-Fujian rebels with the eastern and western lines in Zhejiang County.

Once Fuyang is lost, the situation of the Zhejiang-Fujian army on the east and west fronts will be very close to the passive situation of the Yongjia garrison and the Taizhou garrison after Huaidong occupies Yueqing, and it will fall into complete passivity - no matter how stupid the extravagant bear is, it is impossible to give up Fuyang.

Chen Mingzhe is sometimes confused, but looking at the situation in front of him, the western front can only be stalemate, whether it is Jiangning or luxury Feixiong, they dare not breathe a sigh of relief, maybe they can only sit back and wait for Huaidong to make a breakthrough on the eastern front first.

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

Dong Yuan stood at the head of the city, watching Chen Mingzhen and others enter the city, although Dong Yuan led the envoy of northern Zhejiang with the rank of squire of the military department, but when it came to the weight of authority, it was even better to know the Weiyang Mansion.

The three prefectures in northern Zhejiang, although Hanghu Lake was the richest in the early years, at this time Jiaxing Mansion was the most complete, and the two places of Hanghu, which were originally rich in the world, were involved in the war and were seriously devastated.

Chen Mingzhe is Chen Xiyan's proud protégé, but also the protégé of the Son of Heaven, to review the imperial history of northern Zhejiang, only two years ago, and then entered northern Zhejiang to serve as an important position in Jiaxing government. This is also the intention of the Wu Party to limit Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang, which makes Dong Yuan's cronies resentful.

Gongsun Qi is Dong Yuan's henchman, as early as Dong Yuan's early years when he defended Xianxia County to resist the extravagant army, he rose recklessly with his strength and bravery. Later, he followed Dong Yuan to join Li Zhuo, Dong Yuan knew about the affairs of Weiyang Mansion, organized local military equipment, and Gongsun Wen was the first general to join the past, and won Dong Yuan's trust.

Gongsun Qi saw Chen Mingzhe coming to Hangzhou by boat, stood beside Dong Yuan, and said in a suppressed voice: "Did your lord send someone to find Mr. Gao to contact a relationship, presumably Huaidong doesn't want to see the situation of cold lips and teeth?" ”

"What kind of person is this?" Dong Yuan smiled bitterly, and whispered again, "Chen Xiyan, Yu Xinyuan and other Wu people are really brainless, and they think they have a plan, but they really work hard to make wedding dresses for others. Gao Zongting, Gao Zongting, it seems that the death of the commander has changed you too much......"

Gongsun Qi was puzzled, and said secretly: The current situation in northern Zhejiang, is it Huaidong's connivance, but Jiangning strengthens its control over northern Zhejiang, and what is the benefit to Huaidong if it is overpowered?

***********

When the news that Chen Mingzhi had rushed to Hangzhou to meet Dong Yuan after knowing about the affairs of Jiaxing was already April 24, and in a few days, the battle of Yongjia would last for a month.

"Wu Dang's chess pieces step by step, we have to actively cooperate with them to finish......" When Lin Jian said this, he was no longer in the camp outside Yongjia City, but returned to Ouhai to deal with some affairs, and at this time he was playing chess with Gao Zongting for fun, listening to Song Jia standing on the side and saying that Chen Mingzhen entered Hangzhou to meet Dong Yuan, touched the chess pieces in the sandalwood box, and said with emotion.

"Dong Yuan's heart is arrogant and refuses to give in," Gao Zongting sighed lightly and said, "In the future, he may be embarrassed by Huaidong!" ”

"Northern Yan and Southern Luxury, there is no fuel-efficient goods, and no matter how many Dong Yuan there are in the west, there is no great deal," Lin Jian said, "Huaixi will eventually lack a character who can stand alone." As long as the Wu Party can smoothly empty Dong Yuan in northern Zhejiang, Jiangning will transfer Dong Yuan to Huaidong to preside over the defense affairs, and it will be logical. ”

Lin Jian wanted to maintain the stability of the Jiangning regime and the united front to deal with the southern invasion of Yanhu soldiers and horses, so he had to restrain the impulse to expand into the surrounding areas of Huaidong.

In other words, most of them want to preserve Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang to share Jiangning's pressure on Huaidong. This may be considered a benefit, otherwise Huaidong will have the worry of dying and having cold teeth.

But relatively, there are also big drawbacks.

At this time, Lin Jian sat back and watched the Wu Party empty Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang, and even further expelled Dong Yuan from northern Zhejiang, not because Huaidong suddenly changed his evil ways and returned to righteousness, and wanted to help the new emperor strengthen the centralization of local power, but fundamentally, Huaidong wanted to weaken the military strength of the three prefectures in northern Zhejiang and the two prefectures of Pingjiang and Danyang (that is, the Taihu Plain).

Between Huaidong and eastern Zhejiang, the Taihu Plain, Dong Yuan is an ambitious person, once he is allowed to form a relatively independent separatist force in the Taihu Plain, it will be extremely unfavorable to the situation in Huaidong - this almost means that the most core area of Huaidong is within the scope of Dong Yuan's direct attack.

Lin Jian couldn't put his tentacles into the Taihu Plain for a while, and instead of letting Dong Yuan take root in the middle and making Huaidong restless, it was better to secretly push the Wu Party to drive Dong Yuan away from Zhejiang and Fujian - weakening the military power of the Taihu Plain was the most in Huaidong's interests.

If necessary in the future, the Huaidong soldiers can also enter and control the Taihu Plain as quickly as possible, without worrying about being hindered on a large scale when entering.

The same applies to Weiyang - Huaidong can't put its tentacles into Weiyang for a while, but it must do everything possible to weaken the local military equipment and garrison of Weiyang Mansion.

At this time, the light in the room dimmed, Lin Jian stood up, pushed open the window, and watched the sky outside cloudy, as if it was going to rain.

Counting the season, it is also entering the rainy season; In the past two months, there has been almost no rain in Yongjia Province, and the drought is quite severe.

Seeing the rain, Lin Jian was also quite happy, and the wheat in the field also needed this rain to tassel, but Zhou Tong's military operations there would be greatly affected, and it would also mean that the East China Sea would enter the storm season and be temporarily closed.

It rained sparsely, and when the incense was half burned, the ground was not completely soaked, and the clouds opened and cleared, which was not enjoyable at all.

"This rain is better than no ......" Lin Jian rubbed his hands, turned around and said to Gao Zongting, and was not interested in continuing the endgame.

"The drought is serious everywhere, and even the summer grain income in Huai'an Province will be reduced a lot because of the drought - according to the information collected from various places, the drought in western Zhejiang has become a disaster, which is excellent news for us. This year, the luxury family not only could not get more supplies from Zhejiang, but even spit out some grain and grass reserves to prevent local civil unrest. However, the drought in Hehuai has made the Yellow River go down from Hezhongfu to the shallowest place, which is by no means good news! Gao Zongting said.

"Regardless of whether the blockade is sealed or not, more spies will be sent to Shandong," Lin Jian said, "and the severe drought on both sides of the Yellow River has greatly reduced the water level, which in itself is nothing to be afraid of." If Yan Hu wanted to take advantage of the low water level to send troops across the Yellow River, he could only be a small force of cavalry; Otherwise, a rainstorm in the summer will cause the water level to surge, which will bring them too many unpredictable risks - but it is precisely so, thinking that the Yellow River is a natural barrier in summer and autumn will also make Shandong relax its vigilance, which is the biggest danger! ”

In the past, the Yanhu cavalry could only cross the Yellow River and move south into the Hehuai Plain after the ice was frozen in winter.

In late February, the Yanhu southern invaders retreated to Jinnan and Yannan; Most people, including those in Qingzhou, believed that it would be impossible for Yanhu to cross the Yellow River and head south again before winter.

Qingzhou should take advantage of this time to build a large number of fortifications on the south bank of the Zhulong River with Yangxin City as the core.

However, after Yanhu took control of Jin County and Yanji, especially the tens of thousands of craftsmen who were stranded in Yanjing to build palaces and imperial tombs for the imperial court, Yanhu had to be able to build a trestle bridge over the Yellow River for the passage of the army as long as Yanhu could occupy the beachhead on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Lin Jian was afraid that the people of Qingzhou and the Liang family were not vigilant enough.

Gao Zongting turned his eyes to look out the window at the distant mountains, Huaidong subverted traditional thinking in many aspects.

In addition to being in charge of military intelligence collection and analysis, the Military Intelligence Department under the Huaidong Military Department also relies on combat training schools at all levels and other institutions under the Military Department to analyze various combat plans, and has also set up a special tactical research room.

On the one hand, there is a complete system to ensure that the generals of the Huaidong Army can be relatively fully and systematically trained in tactical literacy, and that they can also get the opportunity to grow without going through the bloody battlefield, and it also enables the Huaidong Military Division to grasp the generals deeply to the grassroots military attachés, thus putting an end to the problem of private soldiers.

On the other hand, many of the strategic and tactical ideas put forward by the Huaidong generals have also been tested internally to a certain extent in advance, and they no longer rely solely on the generals' personal ability and experience to command operations.

For example, on the question of whether the Yanhu soldiers and horses had the ability to cross the southern invasion of the Yellow River in the summer and autumn, the Huaidong Military Department conducted sufficient information collection and operational deductions; And the Jiangning Imperial Camp Division and the towns of the Hehuai defense line can only be judged according to experience - the difference between high and low is extremely significant.

There are hundreds of millions of people in the world, and people with outstanding talents, such as carp crossing the river, I don't know how many, but on Lin Bin's body, Gao Zongting saw that there were too many things that were different from the people with outstanding talents in the world, and thought, maybe these are the ones that make Huaidong have a strong characteristics that are different from the world, and can rise strongly, right?

At this time, there was the sound of horses' hooves galloping from afar--in the area under the jurisdiction of Huaidong, it is forbidden to gallop horses in the city, unless there is an urgent military intelligence report--Listening to the sound of horses' hooves, Gao Zongting walked out quickly, and returned after a while, holding the letter in his hand, and said as he walked: "The defenders of Wenling are withdrawing and heading back to Pu!" ”

"It's a pity, the luxury family doesn't have the courage to step into this pit after all!" Lin Jian smiled faintly and said, "Just ask all the departments to act according to the plan!" ”

Gao Zongting smiled, they were sure that they hoped that the luxury family would draw troops from western Zhejiang to reinforce the eastern front, and hold the defense line to Yongjia and Taizhou to engage in a more brutal military confrontation with Huaidong.

In that way, the luxury family will inevitably show flaws in western Zhejiang, and Jiang Ning, no matter what kind of thoughts he hides, will be extremely eager to restore the defense line of the western front to the position before March last year, and at that time, the luxury family will be even more sad - in comparison, the defense of the luxury family on the eastern front has shrunk to the line of Xianju, Tiantai, and Linhai, and the situation is relatively better.

At present, Huaidong's forces in southern Zhejiang are mainly concentrated in the front of Yongjia.

The Zhejiang-Fujian army first began to withdraw from the north of Yueqing Bay, and the Huaidong Army was in the north of Yueqing Bay, and only Chen Yan led the department to garrison Wenqiao to monitor Wenling and Huipu - even if Xiang Yong was recruited into the Chen Yan department, so that the elite of the Wenqiao garrison reached more than 4,000 people, but the Zhejiang-Fujian army had to withdraw nearly 8,000 elite soldiers from Wenling and Huipu, and it was obviously difficult for Huaidong to bite the Zhejiang-Fujian army in the north of Yueqing Bay.

On the north shore of Yueqing Bay, the main purpose was to attack and harass the rear of the Zhejiang-Fujian army, mainly to prevent the destruction of the place when the Zhejiang-Fujian army withdrew, and even more to prevent the Zhejiang-Fujian army from coercing the local people to retreat westward.

The real bite of the Zhejiang Fujian army is in Yongjia.