When Jiangdu fell at first, Tuotuo could still remain calm and comfort the officials of various provinces. Until Gaoyou also fell, he finally couldn't sit still anymore and ordered his confidant Jia Lu to be called over.
"Enxiang, are you looking for me?" Jia Lu came to the room where Tuotuo worked. He is in his fifties, tall and elegant, and does not look old.
Tuotuo stretched out his hand to signal Jia Lu to sit down and said, "You should have got the news too, right?"
Jia Lu lightly twirled his long beard and said calmly: "I have said long ago that if Polo doesn't use that kind of waste to govern Yangzhou, there will be problems sooner or later."
Tuotuo sighed and said: "Jia Gong, I know you have resentment towards the court, but it's better not to say such things in the future. Do you know how many people have made suggestions in front of me that they want to put you to death?
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Jia Lu snorted: "They are all you Mongolian officials. If Enxiang can't withstand the pressure, just hand me over. I know that Your Majesty is still worried about the river control issue!"
Tuotuo said displeasedly: "What are you talking about? If I really wanted to make you a scapegoat, would I still take you with me on this expedition?"
Jia Lu raised his eyebrows and said: "If Enxiang really believes in me, why doesn't he agree to let me lead the troops to attack Haozhou?"
"Jiangdu and Gaoyou have both fallen, and you still insist on attacking Haozhou?"
Jia Lu said: "Yes, I know that everyone in the court thinks that fighting among the Haozhou bandits is nothing to worry about, but has anyone ever thought that they might be fighting among themselves on purpose to prevent us from attacking them!"<
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Tuotuo said: "Your target should still be Liu Futong!"
The muscles on Jia Lu's face twitched, and he said coldly: "The Enxiang may think that I am avenging personal revenge, but I can tell you clearly that Liu Futong is indeed the source of the world's troubles!"
When Jialu was regulating the river, Han Shantong and Liu Futong buried a one-eyed stone man in the river, spreading rumors in advance that "the stone man with one eye will stir up rebellion in the Yellow River!"
It was such a simple act that actually caused chaos in the world.
As a result, Jia Lu was implicated and was removed from his position as Minister of Industry. The emperor originally planned to give him a Mongolian name, but nothing happened.
This incident was regarded by Jia Lu as a life-long regret. As long as Haozhou was captured, Liu Futong's path to the south would be cut off. Under the attack from the north and the south, Liu Futong would not only be defeated, but also have no other way out.
Tuotuo stared at Jia Lu for a long time, nodded and said: "Okay, I promise you."
Jia Lu was stunned: "Do you really agree?"
"Why, you don't believe it anymore?"
Jia Lu said: "I thought that after the fall of Jiangdu and Gaoyou, you would be even less likely to agree to lead my troops!"
Tuotuo shook his head and sighed: "Jia Gong, it seems that you still have resentment towards me. I told you before that I would not let you attack Haozhou to protect you, but it seems that you don't believe it at all." p>
"Then why did you agree now?"
Tuotuo sat up straighter and said solemnly: "You should know that I have been waiting for the troops from Mobei and the Western Regions recently. This takes time."
Jia Lu woke up and said: "I understand. After the fall of Jiangdu and Gaoyou, His Majesty will be furious. If you do nothing at this time, Your Majesty may be dissatisfied with you."
Tuotuo smiled bitterly: "It's not that I'm dissatisfied, it's that I'm likely to lose His Majesty's trust!"
Jia Lu was surprised: "How could it be? Your Majesty has so much trust in you, who among the ministers in the DPRK doesn't know that?"
Tuotuo shook his head and said: "You haven't entered the center, so many things are unclear. Since the failure of the Battle of Shahe, Your Majesty has become more and more impatient to see me. This time I made a desperate move to attack Xuzhou, which was a helpless move."
Jia Lu did not answer the call.
The Battle of Shahe was the worst defeat of the Yuan army. He still didn't understand how Timur allowed 300,000 elite Yuan troops to lose to tens of thousands of Red Turban troops.
First, it was Tuotuo's brother, who escaped punishment under Tuotuo's protection. Although Jia Lu was a close confidant of Tuotuo, he also felt that he mishandled this matter.
Tuotuo said slowly: "I know your ability best. As long as you can capture Haozhou, my situation in the court will be much better, and it will be easier to recover Yangzhou in the future."
Jia Lu said: "How many troops does Enxiang plan to give me?"
"Is thirty thousand enough?"
Jia Lu's heart sank. Tuo Tuo said it sounded nice, but he still felt uneasy about letting him lead more troops.
Tuotuo saw his thoughts and explained: "You should still remember that His Majesty once issued an oral order that Han generals are not allowed to command more than 30,000 troops, and I cannot disobey him."
Jia Lu sighed secretly, stood up and said: "Then I can only try my best. If I can't defeat Haozhou, I hope Enxiang won't be offended."
Tuo Tuoshou said: "Just try your best to fight, as long as it doesn't look too ugly."
Jia Lu resigned, and two days later he led his troops towards Haozhou.
Xuzhou is the place that the world's rebel armies are most concerned about. Various forces have placed scouts in Xuzhou, including the Jiangdu Army.
As soon as Jia Lu left Jiangdu, a scout sent the news back to the Jiangdu General Manager's Office.
Zhang Yangquan has no mind to care about this matter at the moment. The one who worries him the most right now is Zhang Jiusi.
On the third day after Zhang Jiusi captured Gaoyou, he sent Bian Yuanheng over to make an appointment with him to become king.
According to Bian Yuanheng, Zhang Jiusi had changed his name to Zhang Shicheng, and planned to call himself king, with the country named Dazhou and the reign named Tianyou.
Build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and become king slowly - Zhang Yangquan has always kept these nine-word advice in mind, so naturally he cannot become king so early.
During the conversation, it could be seen that Bian Yuanheng was very opposed to becoming king. So when Zhang Yangquan refused, he did not persuade him any more and just left and returned.
Zhang Shicheng was willing to proclaim himself king to attract the attention of the Yuan Dynasty, but Zhang Yangquan would only clap his hands and applaud.
However, Zhang Shicheng has recently begun to mobilize troops to Taizhou, and seems to have plans to go south to attack Tongzhou.
As long as Zhang Shicheng takes Tongzhou, there will be the possibility of crossing the river, which is something Zhang Yangquan will never allow.
Although Zhang Shicheng did not abandon Gaoyou in history, the butterfly effect he brought may not affect the historical process.
If Zhang Shicheng crosses the river and learns that Yuan soldiers are attacking in large numbers, he may retreat to the south of the Yangtze River. By then, Jiangdu will face the Yuan army's more than 400,000 soldiers.
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In order to prevent this from happening, Zhang Yangquan decided to capture Tongzhou before Zhang Shicheng, completely cutting off the possibility of him going south.
He has sent people to find out in the past few days that Tongzhou is a salt city similar to Taizhou. There are more than 20,000 households in the city, most of whom are engaged in salt cooking. There are only 3,000 defenders, so it is not difficult to capture.
The problem now is that Tongzhou is close to Taizhou and far from Jiangdu. If an attack is launched from Jiangdu, there will be Taixing County in the middle to block it.
There are only 3,000 defenders in Taixing County, so it is not difficult to attack.
However, as long as they attack Taixing, Zhang Shicheng will be alert and is likely to attack Tongzhou immediately.
If Zhang Shicheng occupied Tongzhou first, he would not be able to attack Zhang Shicheng's city, and the situation would be out of control.
In order to deal with this matter, he summoned the generals in the camp to discuss countermeasures.
Everyone has two opinions: either capture Tai'an quickly and then conquer Tongzhou. Or take a small road to bypass Tai'an and go straight to Tongzhou.
However, these two methods are not very successful.
No one can guarantee how long it will take to capture Tai'an. If you take a small road to Tongzhou, you will lose food and grass supplies. If you cannot capture the city in a short time, you may be defeated.
Shanzhu suddenly said: "Why don't we attack in two directions at the same time? First let one group of troops take a small road to Tongzhou, estimate the time, and then send another group of troops to attack Tai'an! In this way, the supply line will be open."
Li Er objected: "It looks different, but in fact it's still the same. If we can't take Tai'an for a few days, the troops who conquered Tongzhou will run out of food. Then Zhang Shicheng's people will come to take advantage of it, so they made wedding clothes for them!"<
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The monkey muttered: "It would be great if there was a navy army. We could attack Tongzhou directly by water!"
Geng Sidao: "Shui, how can the navy army be so easy to train?"
Zhang Yangquan actually looks forward to having a navy army. However, as Geng Si said, training a navy army is an extremely difficult matter.
First of all, we need to have battleships. There was a shipbuilding yard in the past of the Governor's Mansion, right next to the Guarantee Lake.
However, because Polo Buhua felt that the shipyard affected the beautiful scenery of Baoan Lake, he ordered the shipyard to be dismantled and moved to Zhenjiang.
A few days ago, he had ordered the recruitment of shipwrights and re-established a shipbuilding workshop by the lake.
However, the shipyard is not a blacksmith's workshop. It can be operated with an iron-making furnace, and it is extremely time-consuming to build.
According to the shipwright's prediction, the shipyard will take two months to complete. Building a warship is even slower. If there are not enough shipwrights, it may not be possible to build a warship in three months.
Even if you build a good ship, you still need to train your navy.
Calculating this, it will be difficult to build a powerful naval force within a few years.
Zhang Yangquan also thought about buying a few large passenger ships or large cargo ships, equipped with artillery, and used as warships. However, when these ships were built, they either pursued largeness or luxury and comfort, but did not pursue speed.
If a boat like this started a water battle, it would be impossible to catch up or escape, so it had no combat effectiveness at all. He could only give up the idea of taking a shortcut.
Just as everyone was talking about it, a civil servant from the recruitment hall suddenly came to report that the scholars in the recruitment hall were making a fuss, shouting that the general manager's office had neglected them.
Wang Da muttered: "Straight bitch, we provide them with good food and drink, but these guys are not satisfied yet, they might as well blast them away!"
Qin Lingjun scolded him, turned to Zhang Yangquan and said, "Since we can't come up with any results for the time being, why not go to the Talent Recruitment Hall and have a look."
Zhang Yangquan nodded, let the other generals continue to discuss, and headed towards the recruitment hall with Qin Lingjun.
On the way there, Zhang Yangquan asked about the details of the riot among the scholars. The official replied: "It was a scholar named Ma Yulin who took the lead in instigating the riot, saying that the general manager's office had neglected them!"
Ma Yulin? This name seems familiar!
While Zhang Yangquan was thinking, Qin Lingjun touched him and said softly: "It's the counselor who was kidnapped by Zhang Mingjian to Qianhu Station!"
A flash occurred in Zhang Yangquan's mind. Yes, Shanzhu had indeed mentioned this person to him, and also said that Zhang Mingjian originally wanted to imitate Liu Bei and visit the thatched cottage three times to invite this person to come out.
As a result, he became impatient again, so he imitated Zhang Fei and burned down Ma Yulin's thatched house.
"Why is he dissatisfied?" Qin Lingjun asked.
In fact, she respects the virtuous more than Zhang Yangquan. She specifically asked Guo Niansheng to serve those scholars with wine and meat. She really didn't understand what they were dissatisfied with.
The literary official said: "Ma Yulin said that Taigong He was showing favoritism and bringing a low-class person who writes dramas into the recruitment hall. He was humiliating them!"