Lord of the House

(two chapters merged into one chapter)

In late April, Hangzhou is already a bit hot in the beginning of summer. In the past, talented and beautiful people would visit West Lake at this time, but Fuyang and Linshui were occupied by Zhejiang and Fujian rebels. Thirty miles away, who would dare to put his head on his waist at this time and go out of the city to swim to the West Lake?

The coast of Xizi Lake in the southwest of Hangzhou is inaccessible. Except for a team of horse infantry on the north bank dragging heavy steps slowly eastward, Tingting Lake is very beautiful, but no one appreciates it.

The water of Xizi Lake is connected with Qianjiang River. Because Huaidong and Zhejiang and Fujian troops blocked the Qianjiang waterway, it is upstream of the mouth of Xizihu. Therefore, it is relatively less dangerous to enter Xizihu from Qianjiang to Hangzhou City by boat.

Chen Mingzhe put his hands behind him, Zhuo Li bowed his boat, and looked at the vast and wounded land along the West Lake.

Chen Mingzhe left the court a few months ago, and he went to Jiaxing Mansion with the court to discuss the doctor, and became an important chess piece for the Wu Party to divide the power of Dongyuan in northern Zhejiang.

Chen Mingzhe has lived in the hometown for a long time since he became the champion of Chongguan nine-year high school and became famous all over the world. In the past two years, Chen Mingzhe has been ranked fifth in the official ranks, and the speed of promotion is rare in this world. In addition to the troubled times and the eclectic promotion of talents, he also benefited from his teacher-student relationship with Chen Xiyan.

Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang was not as strong as before, but he was still an envoy in northern Zhejiang after all.

The accompanying fan, Jiliang, is also a member of the Wu Party. He is well-known in Jiangning, but his scientific examination is not good. He failed to pass the scientific examination and entered the official career in nearly forty years. Make plans.

"It's strange," Fan Jiliang said, standing behind Chen Mingzhe, "Zhang Yan, the envoy of salt and iron, sent Fan Wenlan to Yueqing by boat, intending to take over the salt affairs in southern Zhejiang. According to reason, Lin Huaidong would not put Fan Wenlan's legs on the ground. Interrupting and expelling him is already very good for Zhang Yan, so why did he really recommend Fan Wenlan as the co-chief of Yongjia Prefecture, specializing in salt affairs in southern Zhejiang?"

Lin Fu was named Marquis of Huaidong, which is a rare nobleman in the world. People in the world do not call him by his name, but Lin Huaidong is often used instead.

"Xu is Lin Huaidong taking salt in southern Zhejiang in exchange for Jiangning to agree to Huaidong's other personnel arrangements for the counties in southern Zhejiang..." Wang Yue, who will be the judge of the Hangzhou government on this trip, and Chen Mingche are fellow villagers of Haiyu, and Fan Jiliang had a good relationship. When he was about forty years old, when he speculated about Huaidong's intention to give up the benefits of salt in southern Zhejiang, the mustache on his lips trembled.

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

Lin Bie is talented in political affairs and military affairs. His actions are eccentric and imaginative. He is very unpredictable. He does not know where the source is. He is called Donghai Fox to show his cunning. -Chen Ming Zhe has been in contact with Huaidong over the years and has a deep understanding of this.

Chen Mingzhe was absent-minded, but it did not hinder the discussion between Jiliang and Wang Yue.

Fan Jiliang shook his head and said: "To completely exclude the salt iron company and the salt merchants, the southern Zhejiang counties can earn 200,000 to 300,000 silver in a year, at least 200,000 to 300,000 silver. However, the imperial court relied on Huaidong on the eastern front. I am afraid that Zhang Yan did not really think that he would be able to win the southern Zhejiang Yanli over. Who knows how long the war on the eastern front will last, even if Huaidong agrees with Jiangning to go to Zhejiang at this time. No one is willing to suffer such a hardship even if Nan appoints officials? Lin Huaidong can grasp these two benefits, how can one exchange one for the other?"

"Although Lin Huaidong acts domineeringly, 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 thinks this way, he is very wrong," Fan Jiliang shook his head and questioned Wang Yue's speculation, and then asked Chen Mingzhe, "Mr. Chen, do you think Lin Fu will be restrained?"

"The world is unpredictable, and people's hearts are unpredictable," Chen Mingzhe said vaguely, "How can you and I know what Lin Huaidong is thinking? It's better not to speculate."

Chen Mingzhe was in a high position when he was young, and Fan Jiliang was convinced before he wanted to, but he recruited Chen Mingzhe as his staff after all, and he should be regarded as the main thing. , looked at Hangcheng's majestic figure in the distance, and asked, "Dong Yuan probably won't be too happy when your lord comes to Hangzhou..."

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

Before March last year, Dong Yuan had the sole power in northern Zhejiang, and today, after the fiasco in Fuyang, although the military department in northern Zhejiang still has Dong Yuan as the head and has jurisdiction over the local military, government and defense in northern Zhejiang, Dong Yuan is far from being able to talk about it. The upper power took over.

After the fiasco in Fuyang, the Zhejiang North Military Division was reorganized, and the total number of troops and horses returned to 60,000. However, Dong Yuan's troops and horses were severely damaged. Meng Yishan's Ning Navy and Chen Huawen's Haiyu Army were within the Zhejiang North Army. Occupy the superiority in military strength, and even the newly established Navy Division of the Zhejiang North Army Division is under the control of Su Pinxiao, the former leader of the Taibai Nao Army, who was included in the Haiyu Army.

In terms of local officials in Jia, Hangzhou and Hu Prefectures, after the new emperor ascended the throne, large-scale adjustments were also made, such as Chen Mingche, Wang Yue and other officials of the Wu party lineage, replacing the original officials from Zhejiang County to Dong Yuan. .

How could Dong Yuan be happy in such a situation?

After the new emperor ascended the throne, Chen Xiyan served as the first assistant. In addition to consolidating the north-south defense line, increasing income and reducing expenditure, the most important thing was to conspire to weaken the threats and hidden dangers posed by the local vassal forces to the Jiangning regime, and to strengthen the court's control over the region.

Whether it is Chen Xiyan, Yu Xinyuan, or other officials of the Wu Party, almost none of them have the ambition to separate the region militarily and stand against the imperial court. On issues such as weakening the power of local vassal commanders and strengthening the centralization of power in Jiangning, the interests of the Wu Party and the new emperor are the same. consistent.

The new emperor was not a faint-hearted monarch. He had been in Jiangning for two or three years as King Ning, and he had a more thorough understanding of the situation in Jianghuai.

As far as local power is concerned, the Jianghuai region is dominated by the Dongyang Department and the Wu Party. After the Dongyang system was completely broken, Gu Wuchen went north to Qingzhou, and the Dongyang system was headed by Huaidong. The new emperor wants to sit firmly in Jiangning without the support of local forces. Between the new Dongyang clan and the Wu party, he knows who to choose with his eyes closed.

Of course, in order to cut down the power of the local vassal commander, neither the new emperor nor Chen Xiyan dared to rashly try out Huaidong, nor even move Lin Tingli, who is closely related to Huaidong. It became the first target of Jiangning's "cutting the vassal".

Dong Yuan just didn't have the ability to resist, and could only accept Jiangning's many arrangements. After he established the new emperor, Dong Yuan honestly only focused on military affairs and defense, and stayed in Hangzhou all the time, and even gave the local military preparations and control rights. , also handed over to the prefecture.

"Will Dong Yuan be so honest?" Chen Mingzhe thought to himself, "Jiang Ning cuts Dong Yuan's power, will Lin Fu feel that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold, and enter into interference? Or that there has long been a relationship between Dong Yuan and Lin Fu. Collusion, after all, after Li Zhuo's death, Gao Zongting and others all took refuge in Huaidong, and Dong Yuan and them all came under Li Zhuo's family..."

Although it was quite smooth to find out about Jiaxing's affairs, Chen Mingzhe still has deep worries about the future development of the situation in northern Zhejiang!

As the ferry sailed northward, Hangcheng was getting closer and closer. Fan Jiliang, as if he was suddenly touched by something, said abruptly: "Huaidong is in a desperate situation. Since Huaidong is fighting against the Shejia on the east line It's so intense and the fight is inseparable, shouldn't the western front be relaxed and let the troops and horses of the extravagant family in western Zhejiang advance eastward and fight Huaidong to lose both?"

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

Chen Mingzhe shook his head and said, "It's absolutely impossible, and it doesn't matter whether Deng Yu, Dong Yuan, and Jiangxi will cooperate or not - not afraid of 10,000, but afraid that She Feixiong will do the opposite. Kai and Huaidong had a decisive battle on the eastern front, and while we were relaxing on the western front, we suddenly attacked Huzhou or Ningguo in a big way, to encircle Wei and save Zhao, forcing Huaidong to draw troops from the eastern front, then we would be shooting ourselves with stones. foot!"

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

It is true that the She Feihu captured Fuyang and Linshui in March last year, and then occupied Qianqiuguan and Dusongguan, which made Jiangning's situation on the western front very dangerous and did not dare to relax in the slightest. The soldiers and horses of the She family in western Zhejiang not only pointed directly at Jiahang Lake and the heart of Huizhou, but also directly threatened Jiangning.

Even if the main force of the luxury family in western Zhejiang is to go east and Huaidong to fight on the east line, the defense line of the west line must at least be restored to the position before March last year, so that people can be reassured - otherwise it is very likely to be playing with fire and self-immolating; At this time, it was too late to cry.

Furthermore, Huaidong is by no means a good stubble.

At this time, the court relied on Huaidong too much. It would be good to be able to hide from Huaidong by playing such a small trick; I'm afraid it is several times more serious than lifting a stone on your own feet.

On the western front, Jiang Ning did not dare to let the enemy enter eastward to harm Huaidong, but his main intention was to maintain stability.

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

Jiang Ning wanted to be safe, but Deng Yu guarded Huinan, and was threatened by luxury flying tigers from three directions: Yuling Pass, Qianqiu Pass, and Dusong Pass. For him, it is not possible to sleep peacefully by defending Huizhou City. At least he has to take back the two important passes of Qianqiu Pass and Dusong Pass, so that he can breathe a sigh of relief.

The current situation of Dong Yuan is related to the defeat of Fuyang last year. Chen Mingzhe speculates that Dong Yuan is probably eager to regain Fuyang from She Feixiong, right?

Of course, Chen Mingzhe himself hoped that the Northern Zhejiang Army would take the initiative to recover Linshui, Fuyang and other places with a more positive attitude, rather than the unrealistic strategic fantasy of advancing the enemy eastward and taking advantage of the fisherman. Drive the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels out of northern Zhejiang.

After the fall of Fuyang and Linshui, a large area of ​​fertile soil centered on Hangcheng and Deqing was affected by the war and became a buffer zone for the tug-of-war between the enemy and us. Only Jiaxing Prefecture remained intact. A large number of people have fled, the fields have been abandoned, and no one is farming. Since June last year, the taxes that the three prefectures in northern Zhejiang can provide have been reduced. A large number of people escaped the war and fled to Pingjiang, Danyang, Jiaxing and other places, which aggravated the food shortage in these areas.

The counties in Jiaxing face the sea, and over the years the development has been worse than that of Hangzhou and Lake prefectures. Even if Chen Mingzhe intends to implement the new policy in Jiaxing prefecture to learn from Huaidong, it will not be effective in a short time. It is necessary to fundamentally improve the situation in northern Zhejiang. , Recovering Fuyang and Linshui is the key.

But obviously, it is impossible for She Feixiong to give up Fuyang.

In addition to deterring Jiangning and weakening the military potential of the three provinces in northern Zhejiang, the Zhejiang-Fujian rebels occupying Fuyang also controlled the middle reaches of the Qianjiang waterway.

Once Fuyang is lost, the situation of Zhejiang and Fujian troops on the east and west fronts will be very close to the passive situation where the Yongjia defenders and Taizhou defenders cannot care about each other after Huaidong occupies Yueqing, and will fall into complete passiveness——Luxury No matter how stupid Fei Xiong is, he can't give up Fu Yang.

Chen Mingzhe is also very confused sometimes, but looking at the current situation, the western front can only be stalemate. Neither Jiangning nor She Feixiong dare to breathe a sigh of relief, maybe they can only wait for Huaidong to make a breakthrough on the eastern front. .

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

Dong Yuan stood at the head of the city and watched Chen Mingzhe and others enter the city. Although Dong Yuan was appointed as the Minister of War to lead the Northern Zhejiang system, he was not even as important as when he came out of Weiyang Mansion.

Among the three houses in northern Zhejiang, although Hanghu was the most prosperous in the early years, Jiaxing Mansion was the most complete at this time. Both Hangzhou and Lake, which were originally prosperous, were involved in the war and were severely damaged.

Chen Mingzhe is a proud student of Chen Xiyan and a disciple of the emperor. He was appointed to the official post of the censor in northern Zhejiang. After only two years, he went to northern Zhejiang to assume the important position of knowing the affairs of Jiaxing mansion. This is also the intention of the Wu Party to limit Dong Yuan's powers in northern Zhejiang, which makes Dong Yuan's cronies feel resentful.

Gongsun Qi was Dong Yuan's confidant. As early as in Dong Yuan's early years, when he defended Xianxia County to resist the extravagant army, he rose to the fore with his strength and courage. Later, he joined Li Zhuo with Dong Yuan, and Dong Yuan went out to know the affairs of Weiyang's house and organized local military equipment. Gongsun Wen was the general who originally joined the past, and he won Dong Yuan's trust.

Gongsun Qi saw Chen Mingzhe came to Hangzhou by boat, stood beside Dong Yuan, and said in a low voice, "Did your lord send someone to contact Mr. Gao for a relationship, presumably Huaidong doesn't want to see the situation where his lips are dead and his teeth are cold?"

"What kind of idiot is this?" Dong Yuan smiled bitterly, and then whispered, "Chen Xiyan, Yu Xinyuan and other Wu people are really clueless, 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 superintendent Death has changed you too much..."

Gongsun Qi was puzzled, and secretly said: Is it possible that Huaidong condones the situation in northern Zhejiang today, but Jiangning strengthens the control of northern Zhejiang and puts them on the air, what is the benefit to Huaidong?

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

When the news that Chen Mingzhe came to Hangzhou to meet Dong Yuan after learning about Jiaxing government affairs reached Yongjia, it was already April 24th, and in a few days, the Yongjia battle would last for a full month. .

"We have to actively cooperate with Wu Dang's chess pieces to finish..." When Lin Fu said this, he was no longer in the camp outside Yongjia City, but returned to Ouhai to deal with some affairs. Playing chess with Gao Zongting was a pleasure, listening to Song Jia standing on the side telling the news that Chen Mingzhe had entered Hangzhou to meet Dong Yuan, feeling the chess pieces in the sandalwood box, and said with emotion.

"Dong Yuan is arrogant and unwilling to submit to others," Gao Zongting sighed softly and said, "In the future, he may be in trouble with Huaidong!"

"Beiyan and Nanshe don't have a fuel-efficient product, and there are more Dongyuans in the west," Lin Fu said. "Huaixi will eventually lack someone who can stand on its own. Bei Shun smoothly removed Dong Yuan, and Jiang Ning transferred Dong Yuan to Huaidong to preside over the defense, which would be logical."

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

For others, most of them want to preserve Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang so as to share Jiangning's pressure on Huaidong. This may be considered a benefit, otherwise Huaidong will have the worry of dying.

But on the contrary, there are also major disadvantages.

At this time, Lin Fu sat and watched as the Wu Party emptied Dong Yuan's power in northern Zhejiang, and even further expelled Dong Yuan from northern Zhejiang. It was not that Huai suddenly changed his wickedness and returned to the right, and he wanted to help the new emperor strengthen the centralization of local power, but Basically, Huaidong is to weaken the military strength of the three prefectures in northern Zhejiang and the two prefectures in Pingjiang and Danyang (that is, the Taihu Plain).

There is Taihu Plain between Huaidong and Zhejiang. 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 for the situation in Huaidong - this almost means that Huaidong The core areas are all within the direct attack range of Dong Yuan.

Lin Fu could not extend his tentacles into the Taihu Plain for a while. Instead of letting Dong Yuan take root and making Huaidong restless, it is better to secretly push the Wu Party to expel Dong Yuan from Zhejiang and Fujian - weakening the military strength of the Taihu Plain is the best way. In line with Huaidong's interests.

If necessary in the future, Huaidong soldiers can also enter and control the Taihu Plain at the fastest speed, without worrying about large-scale obstacles when entering.

This principle also applies to Weiyang - Huaidong can't put his tentacles into Weiyang for a while, but he must do everything possible to weaken the local armament and garrison of Weiyang House.

At this time, the light in the room dimmed, and Lin Bie stood up, opened the window, and looked at the sky outside with overcast clouds, as if it was going to rain.

Counting the seasons, it is also the rainy season; in the past two months, almost no star rain has fallen in Yongjia Prefecture, and the drought is quite serious.

Seeing it raining, Lin Fu was also quite happy. The wheat in the fields also needed this rain to head, 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 temporarily closed.

It rained sparsely, and after half a stick of incense, the ground hadn't been completely soaked, and the clouds opened and closed, and it was completely unsatisfactory.

"It's raining, talk is better than nothing..." Lin Bie rubbed his hands, turned around and said to Gao Zongting, not in the mood to continue the endgame.

"The drought is serious everywhere, and even the summer grain income of Huai'an Prefecture will be greatly reduced because of the drought. According to the information collected from various places, the severe drought in western Zhejiang has become a disaster. This is excellent news for us. Shejia This year, not only could we not be able to get more supplies from Zhejiang, but we even spit out some grain reserves to guard against civil uprisings. However, the drought in Hehuai has made the Yellow River go down from Hezhongfu, even in the shallowest places. He, this is by no means good news!" Gao Zongting said.

"Whether it is blocked or not, more spies will be sent to Shandong," Lin Fu said. "The severe drought on both sides of the Yellow River has greatly reduced the water level. This in itself is nothing to be afraid of. If Yanhu wanted to take advantage of the low water level to send troops across the Yellow River, It can only be a small group of cavalry; otherwise, a heavy rain in the summer will cause the water level to rise sharply, which will bring them too many unpredictable risks - but this is precisely the case, thinking that the Yellow River is a natural barrier in summer and autumn, It 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 enter the Hehuai Plain after freezing in winter.

In late February, Yanhu's southern invading troops and horses retreated to Jinnan and Yannan; most people, including Qingzhou people, believed that before winter, Yanhu would not be able to cross the Yellow River again in a big way.

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

However, after Yanhu took control of Jinjun and Yanji, tens of thousands of craftsmen who were stranded in Yanjing, who built palaces and imperial mausoleums for the ancestral court, were given to Yanhu, as long as Yanhu could occupy the beach on the south bank of the Yellow River. The position is capable of setting up trestle bridges on the Yellow River for the passage of the army.

Lin Fu was afraid that the people in Qingzhou and the Liang family were not vigilant enough.

Gao Zongting glanced at the distant mountains outside the window, and Huaidong subverted traditional thinking in many ways.

The Military Intelligence Division under the Huaidong Military Division, in addition to specializing in military intelligence collection and analysis, also relies on war training schools at all levels and other institutions under the military division to analyze various combat plans, and also set up a tactical research room.

These measures, on the one hand, have a complete system to ensure that the generals of the Huaidong Army can get a relatively sufficient and systematic tactical literacy training, and they can get the opportunity to grow without going through the **** battlefield. The control of the generals goes deep into the military attachés at the grass-roots level, which eliminates the problem of privatization.

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

For example, whether the Yanhu soldiers and horses are capable of surviving the invasion of the Yellow River in summer and autumn, the Huaidong Military Division has conducted sufficient information collection and operational deductions; while the Jiangning Royal Camp Division and the towns of the Hehuai Defense Line can only follow the Judging by experience - the difference between superior and inferior here is exceptionally significant.

There are hundreds of millions of people in the world, people who know excellence, such as crucian carp crossing the river, I don’t know how many, but in Lin Fu, Gao Zongting saw that there are too many things that are different from those who know excellence in the world~www.wuxiaspot.com~ thought, Perhaps these are the reasons why Huaidong has a strong and distinctive character, and is able to rise strongly, right?

At this time, there was the sound of horse hooves galloping from afar - in the area under the jurisdiction of Huaidong, galloping horses are prohibited in the city unless there is an emergency military intelligence report - listening to the hurried sound of horse hooves, Gao Zongting walked out quickly, and after a while Returning, holding a letter in his hand, he said as he walked, "The Wenling defenders are withdrawing and heading back to Pu!"

"It's a pity, the She family didn't have the courage to step into this pit!" Lin Bie smiled lightly and said, "All the ministries need to act according to the plan!"

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

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

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

The Zhejiang and Fujian troops began to withdraw from the north of Yueqing Bay, and the Huaidong Army was in the north of Yueqing Bay. Only Chen Zuo led his troops to station Wen Qiao to monitor Wenling and Huipu - even if Xiang Yong was recruited into Chen Zu's troops, Wen Qiao was stationed. There are more than 4,000 elite soldiers, but the Zhejiang-Fujian army has to withdraw nearly 8,000 elite soldiers from Wenling and Huipu. It is obviously difficult for Huaidong to bite the Zhejiang-Fujian army north of Yueqing Bay.

On the north bank of Yueqing Bay, mainly to harass the rear of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops, mainly to prevent the destruction of the area when the Zhejiang and Fujian troops withdraw, but also to prevent Zhejiang and Fujian from coercing the local people to retreat westward.

The real bite of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops is in Yongjia. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter