Zhao Gou closed his eyes and tried, temporarily putting aside Chen Qing completely and pretending that Chen Qing was deploying troops to deal with Hebei.
It really worked. He stopped thinking about Chen Qing and only thought about Zhang Jun, and his thoughts gradually became clearer.
"What are your thoughts on dealing with Zhang Jun?"
Xu Xiantu said calmly: "Your Majesty, Zhang Jun is not Chen Qing. First of all, Your Majesty cannot treat him with the same attitude as Chen Qing. Chen Qing can be financially independent, but Zhang Jun is not. His financial lifeline is tightly controlled by us.
, unless he rebels openly, he will not dare to fall out with us.
Secondly, Wei Chen believes that Zhang Jun is actually the second Liu Guangshi. His Majesty wants to actively win over Zhang Jun's generals. If we tighten his finances little by little, his army will have civil strife and even split.
Third, we must take precautions and immediately withdraw the troops from Jiangbei to Jiangnan. This means clenching our fists and preparing to give Zhang Jun a fatal blow. As soon as Zhang Jun is defeated, the morale of the army will immediately collapse and he will fall apart and gather his strength.
Army, organize a new Jianghuai Army."
Zhao Gou nodded repeatedly. Xu Xiantu's thinking was very clear, and his eyes gradually became clear. He pondered for a moment and asked: "The Prime Minister's suggestion to withdraw the army from Jiangbei to Jiangnan will create an opportunity for Zhang Jun to annex Yangzhou?"
"This is what I mean. Withdraw the army and transport all the money and materials from Yangzhou back to the south of the Yangtze River. If he dares to annex Yangzhou, he is a traitor. We will justifiably cut off his money and food. Jianghuai alone cannot support an army of 200,000."
, he will either surrender to the imperial court or come to the south of the Yangtze River, and our battle to quell the rebellion will begin here."
Zhao Gou understood Xu Xiantu's thinking. He first trapped Zhang Jun in an unjust situation, and then forced him to rebel. The court finally suppressed the rebellion. Once Zhang Jun fell into an unjust situation and rebelled against the court, it would be impossible for his 200,000 troops to defeat him.
Willing to rebel with him.
"I completely understand Xianggong Xu's thinking. Let me think about it again!"
"Wei Chen resigns!"
Han Shizhong's navy was stationed in Dehua County, Jiangzhou, which is today's Jiujiang. It was also an important naval base in the Song Dynasty and had a ready-made water fortress.
The water village is very large and the water is vast. More than 300 large and small boats are moored in the water village. Even 30% of the water surface is not full. The military camp is on the shore. This is a standard amphibious camp.
The military camp on the shore covers an area of hundreds of acres, but it is not a large tent, but a patchwork of brick buildings, with hundreds of rows in total.
The commander's room is located in the east. At this time, the lights in the commander's room are brightly lit. Han Shizhong and his two lieutenants Zhang Gongyu and Wang Gui are discussing the defense of the water stronghold.
Mainly this afternoon, they discovered the Western Army's sentry boats, more than 20 of them. Observing them on the Yangtze River, Han Shizhong suddenly realized that they were very close to the Western Army's water stronghold, which was in Jiangxia, and they
The distance is only over two hundred miles.
Of course they will not attack the Western Navy and Navy, but will they make it easy for others to snore on the couch? The key is whether the Western Navy and Navy can tolerate them.
"Commander, if we go to Huangzhou in Jiangbei to station, the threat to them will be much smaller." Wang Gui suggested.
"no!"
Han Shizhong objected flatly, "Jiangbei is Zhang Jun's territory. To station in Jiangbei is like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth."
Zhang Gongyu is a veteran general with rich experience. He said slowly: "It's not a big problem during the day. If the Western Army sneaks up on us, it will also be at night. I suggest leaving a few soldiers on the ship. If there is an attack, we can evacuate from the east gate in time."
"
There are two gates in Shuizhai, one is the north gate, which leads directly to the Yangtze River, and the other is the southeast gate, which leads to Poyang Lake. Zhang Gongyu means that if the Western Army comes in from the north gate, then they will retreat from the east gate.
Go to Poyang Lake.
Han Shizhong nodded, "This is a good suggestion. It's best to start implementing it tonight!"
It was late at night, and the time was gradually approaching the third watch. More than a hundred warships carrying 20,000 Western Army soldiers appeared not far from the water village. Tonight was the time Chen Qing and Zhang Jun agreed to seize the warships. Zhang Jun personally led
A hundred thousand troops also appeared three miles west of the camp.
There were more than 300 warships in the water stronghold, and he took 70% of them, which was more than 200 ships, enough to build a relatively powerful navy.
"Your Majesty, it's almost time for the third watch!"
Zhang Jun nodded and waved his hand, "Let's go!"
One hundred thousand troops rushed towards the navy camp in a mighty manner. They were so large that they were spotted by sentries on the outside about a mile away from the military camp. The sentries immediately shot gunpowder arrows into the sky.
A bright gunpowder arrow flew into the sky, and the bell on the military camp tower immediately rang, "Dang! Dang! Dang!"
At the same time, the alarm bell on the east watchtower also sounded, "Dang! Dang! Dang!"
It was Zhang Jun's vanguard general Suo Ban who led five thousand troops into the military camp from the east, and Zhang Jun's one hundred thousand troops came to assist.
At the same time, Navy Commander Yang Yuanqing saw the gunpowder arrows on the shore, and he immediately ordered, "Attack!"
More than a hundred warships and soldiers were divided into two groups, fighting all the way to the north gate of the water village and all the way to the southeast gate of the water village. The cars and boats were flying as fast as they were flying, and the first rammed the ship and hit the gate of the water village hard.
A melee has broken out in the camp. Two thousand soldiers on duty and five thousand vanguard troops are fighting fiercely. Both sides are Song troops and have the same armor. However, the soldiers of Zhang Jun's army have white cloth wrapped around their left arms, which is very eye-catching to distinguish them.
Friendly and enemy.
Han Shizhong was rich in experience. All the soldiers wore armor and slept with their weapons in their hands. They didn't even take off their shoes. As long as there was an enemy situation, they could immediately fight out.
Countless soldiers rushed out from various barracks. Han Shizhong shouted on his horse, "Go to the dock and board the ship!"
But Zhang Jun's five thousand troops blocked the road to the dock, so the soldiers could not go to the dock or get on the ship.
At this time, Zhang Jun led a mighty main force into the military camp. Han Shizhong could see clearly and recognized Zhang Jun at a glance. He was shocked and immediately realized that the problem was serious.
A soldier rushed to report, "Captain! It's the Jianghuai Army who is coming to kill us. There are 100,000 people!"
At this time, another soldier shouted: "An enemy ship has entered the water stronghold. The attack is too fierce. Our brothers cannot resist it. We need support!"
Han Shizhong immediately understood that Chen Qing and Zhang Jun must have colluded to annihilate him.
He knew he couldn't resist, so he immediately ordered: "Send the whole army to retreat to the south!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The retreat bell rang, and 25,000 navy soldiers followed Han Shizhong to retreat to the southern gate. Zhang Jun did not give orders to pursue him. He came to seize the ship, not to give orders to the imperial army, especially since he was not the Western Army or the Jurchen Army.
, if the two armies really fight to the death and he wins by relying on his superior strength, he will also pay a heavy price.
The Song army on the big ship had too few troops and was no match for the Western navy. Especially when they learned that the opponent was the Western army, they were unwilling to fight to the death and surrendered one after another. In just a few moments, the Western army captured nearly two hundred ships.
The remaining warships retreated towards the southeast gate, but the Western Army had already ambushed there. A ship sailed out of the gate and was immediately hooked by an iron hook and dragged aside. The Western Army jumped on the ship one after another.
Zhang Gongyu rushed out of the cabin with a sword in hand. Suddenly a large net fell from the sky and covered him. More than a dozen Western soldiers dragged him down, swarmed him, pushed him down on the deck, and tied him up with ropes behind his back.
As Han Shizhong led his troops to completely withdraw, this sneak attack battle ended in just more than half an hour. The Western Army escorted the warships to the west, and Zhang Jun also led a hundred thousand troops to rush towards Ezhou.
