The 444th chapter draws wages from the bottom of the pot (1)
The rain was still falling, and the ground was muddy. However, Zhang Fu's Chinese army tent was very comfortable. The tent was set up on a bamboo platform a few feet above the ground. The water flowing from the tent flowed directly from the gaps in the wood to the ground.
Then it flows away through the drainage ditch without affecting the dryness inside at all.
There were only four people in the tent, military general Xue Lu, Metropolitan Procuratorate official Yang Sihai, and a middle-aged man wearing a tight-fitting green cloth jacket. Zhang Fu was sitting on a stool above, writing something slowly with a brush.
The dark scenery outside was dotted with shadows of firelight. This place did not look like a battlefield, but just an open camp. The army was dormant in the rainy night. Zhang Fu finally put his pen on the inkstone and put his hand on his chin.
He stroked his beard, looked outside and listened to the sound of rain for a while, and then spoke.
"Before sending troops to Jiangxi, I sent some people to infiltrate Jiujiang City one after another. The Ministry of War knew about this." Zhang Fu glanced at Yang Sihai. Yang Sihai was not an official of the Ministry of War, but his backer Yang Rong was.
Shangshu, "But the most important group of troops at the moment is not these craftsmen, who can't do much if they have few people and weapons; it is a man among the soldiers sent by the King of Han. His name is Wang Zhiyuan."
Zhang Fu paused and continued to tell the secret, "This person was placed in the Han Dynasty's army a long time ago, one of ours. But he was not highly used by the Han Dynasty in the past, so he was of little use. Until the king of the imperial court
After the division captured Caishiji (an important ferry near Nanjing), I thought that it would be a matter of time to pacify the Han king, and Wang Zhiyuan would be of little use by then; but the Huguang rebels were still there, and after the official army entered Nanjing, they would definitely
Marching from the south of the Yangtze River to Huguang, Jiujiang City guarded Poyang Lake, which was a hurdle. I ordered Wang Zhiyuan to join the Jiujiang garrison in advance. The garrison general at that time was Wang Shishun. Later, Wang Zhiyuan became a general in the Jiujiang army. After Wang Shishun was killed, he still
Unscathed in Jiujiang."
Yang Sihai was slightly surprised and said: "So, when the King of Han was still there, the British Duke had already planted a son in Jiujiang?"
Zhang Fu nodded calmly and slightly.
Several people present looked at the gray-haired Zhang Fu with awe. He said: "This method is not a frank approach, but there are many signs that there are also spies who rebel against the bandits in the imperial court. Come on.
There is no need to be disrespectful, and we don’t need to be polite to the rebels."
The middle-aged man in black clothes asked respectfully: "Can Wang Zhiyuan successfully mobilize the people in his hands?"
Zhang Fu said: "This man was once a general, and he went to the Queen of Han to run his own power. The only people under his command who can fight are privately raised Ding Ya soldiers. At least he can make good use of those people in his family." Zhang Fu continued,
"Even the craftsmen in the city don't know about Wang Zhiyuan's existence. Only the senior officials of the Ministry of War and me know about this person. The matter is confidential and we will not contact him unless it is needed. So you must be prepared this time, and you will not let it go to waste.
This team...are you sure that the secret passage in Beicheng has not been discovered?"
The man in black said: "I've only used it once since I dug it."
Zhang Fu nodded lightly: "You go into the city with the people who came back last night, and don't send anyone out to contact you in the future. The city is under martial law, and the rebels' secret posts are tight. If you walk too much at night, you will inevitably encounter ghosts."
The man in black said seriously: "I have sewn poison on my collar and wrapped it with wax. If I bite half of the incense stick, I will die for the country. If something unexpected happens, even if I die, I will not betray Wang Zhiyuan."
, I will repay the British Lord’s life-saving grace with my own life.”
Zhang Fu said: "You are not only repaying kindness, but also repaying the country and saving the lives of countless soldiers! Now the rebellion of the Han Dynasty has been confirmed. The traitor Jianwen is trapped in a corner and resisting, which will surely cause disaster sooner or later. But now the rebels are building a wall in Jiujiang to defend themselves. If they cannot stop it,
The soldiers will surely lose countless of their food and grass in the hard battles to come. You have a heavy responsibility and thousands of lives on it, so you must understand."
Yang Sihai said from the side: "If our internal forces can burn down the rebels' granaries, there will be no grain roads in Jiujiang, so don't stand down."
Xue Lu also hurriedly said: "The British strategy of pulling out the firewood from under the cauldron, with foresight and foresight, will surely succeed immediately."
At this time, Zhang Fu picked up the writing he had just written and let it dry for a while. It was almost dry. There were two lines of small words written on it: Everything is ready, all we need is the east wind. He took a bamboo tube, rolled the paper and put it in with his own hands.
Then sealed it with wax. Zhang Fu finished these things slowly and handed it to the man in black: "I won't write the military order anymore. Wang Zhiyuan knows my handwriting. Tell him his background again, he will
He will definitely believe your identity; otherwise his identity would have been exposed and he would have been taken away, so why send someone to deceive him?"
The man in black responded: "Yes. Do you have any other orders?"
Zhang Fu paced back and forth in front of the table for a few steps, and then said earnestly: "Remember, Wang Zhiyuan is the most critical point. Only you can know before taking action! You can ask the internal intelligence in the city where his garrison is.
, ask a few more people to confuse Wang Zhiyuan among them."
"I understand the humble position."
"Go ahead. The returning spy will be waiting for you outside the tent." Zhang Fu waved his hand and turned around. He only hoped that the spy would succeed, and he didn't have to burn all the food and grass. Just burning part of it would be enough to shake the morale of the rebels.
of.
…
Zhang Ning put on a robe and sat up. She turned to look at the window. It was dark outside. Xin Wei was wet again. The water flowed from her trousers to the floor, and soon there was a pool of water stains.
She whispered: "Two people crawled in from outside the city last night. In the middle of the night, the people in the house went out one after another and went to seven or eight places in a row. Our people have already staked out all the places. But I don't know.
How many people are there? We only have more than thirty people, so we need to get an order from the prince to have General Li lead the bodyguard to get the people."
"That's enough now." Zhang Ning put on clothes indiscriminately, and Xin Wei stood still because he was wet. He got up, brought the stove over, and put it next to Xin Wei for her to warm up. Xin Wei said: "Now
As long as the prince gives the order, we can catch all the spies in one fell swoop!"
Zhang Ning pondered for a moment and asked: "Do you still remember where the spies contacted?"
Xin Wei thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement. Zhang Ning rummaged around on the desk for a while, found a drawing of Jiujiang City, and asked Xin Wei to point it out.
During this process, Zhang Ning also asked about the size of each place, what kind of house it was for, and so on. He asked very carefully. Fortunately, Xin Wei was very thoughtful about this kind of thing, and he could describe most of them clearly. There were houses of ordinary people.
, places like shops.
"These houses can't hide many people in total. A group of people are hiding in the house to eat, drink and sleep. There are less than a hundred people at most." Zhang Ning held his chin and thought as he muttered, "What can a hundred people do in such a big city?
? Are you planning to attack the city gate, or assassinate key figures? Or are you just asking for information...what information can you find?"
Xin Wei said: "If the Guards are transferred, the prince must be careful of any fish slipping through the net. Safety is of paramount importance."
Zhang Ning shook his head: "There are thousands of Yongding Battalion's Third Army stationed next to the governor's office." He hesitated to give the order. After sitting for a long time, he said: "If I were Zhang Fu, I would definitely give priority to burning grain and grass at this time. Jiujiang will die.
In a city, once the food and fodder are burned, the fuel will be drained from the bottom of the cauldron. No matter how strong the fortifications are, it is useless. People have to eat."
He finally raised his head and said decisively: "I ordered the servants to monitor you all. Don't act rashly and continue to keep an eye on me. If there is any unusual movement, report it directly to me."
For the next two days, although Zhang Ning had to ask about Xi Zuo every day, there was no new progress. He couldn't help but worry about another possibility: If the governor's Yamen also had Xi Zuo, would he notice something? After all, the chamberlain has been doing this for the past few days.
Most of the people in the province have gone to hide in the city to monitor, and those who are interested may be able to detect subtle changes. If the spies get the news, they will definitely try to disperse and hide, or at least destroy some valuable things. Zhang Ning is waiting without moving.
, wouldn’t it be a missed opportunity?
The rain stopped in the evening, and Zhang Ning participated in a discussion in the lobby. The army planned to send more troops to the fortifications outside the city early tomorrow morning. On another matter, he was also privately considering the details of the detailed work in the city.
Internet.
He returned to the study and sent someone to summon Li Zhen to meet him inside. While waiting, Xin Wei suddenly came back first. She hurriedly walked in, lowered her head and whispered in Zhang Ning's ear: "I found out that someone among the spies had entered."
The station of the 1st Battalion of the Jiujiang Army."
Zhang Ning's face suddenly changed, and a thought flashed through his mind: If the Jiujiang Army suddenly mutinied in the city and was caught off guard and burned down the granary or ammunition depot, it would be stronger. All Zhang Fu's actions would become reasonable and profitable.
How could the Jiujiang Army have anything to do with Zhang Fu? This group of people really has low loyalty. It would be possible if a spy waited for an opportunity to contact him to lobby for policy. But the government and army only sent people in to lobby at the last minute, so we don’t know whether it will succeed.
It's too risky and child's play. For Zhang Fu, the safer approach is to have his people in the Jiujiang army... When this army surrendered, the King of Han had just finished, and the officers and soldiers inside were Han King's troops after investigation;
If Zhang Fu had a plan, he had to start preparations while the King of Han was still in power. If this was the case, the plan was too advanced and the layout was too deep. It seemed impossible.
When things came to a close, Zhang Ning had no time to find out the whole story and couldn't guess. He only realized that the crisis was right in front of him.
"Which battalion is it?" Zhang Ning asked, and immediately remembered that Xin Wei didn't know much about military garrison, so he changed his question, "Where is it?"
Xin Wei said: "Behind the government office, at the intersection of Dabei Street, the surrounding houses were requisitioned by military camps, and sentries were also set up on the streets."
"Wang Zhiyuan's Department." Zhang Ning blurted out after thinking about it for a while. He had only met this military commander a few times and did not remember talking to him. Most of what he knew about it came from files.
What to do? Zhang Ning limped up and paced, thinking about immediately dispatching troops to surround Wang Zhiyuan to death? But what if more than one of him had different intentions, or what would happen if he suddenly launched an army to investigate and provoke a mutiny among the Han army?
The rain has stopped, and the army can launch a large-scale attack tomorrow. The fortifications outside the city are not iron walls. If there are loopholes inside, or the army is unwilling to repeatedly invest troops, the lethality of the earthen wall musket array is actually very limited.