Fu Shanhe

Chapter 62: Ten Surroundings
Huaian City.

"The Beijing camp is still dithering. What exactly do those nobles want to do?"

Zuo Guangen's angry questioning made the eunuch party members tremble in fear.

Everyone knows the truth. Last time during the personnel appointments in the Ministry of War, they tricked the noble group, and they will definitely find an opportunity to get back at them.

After the Beijing troops arrived at the battlefield, they chose not to work hard, which meant that the noble group was looking for an explanation from them.

If the two sides can negotiate the terms, the Beijing camp will be able to start work immediately. If the negotiations fail, it will not be too late to suppress the rebellion after Huai'an falls.

As long as it does not affect the overall situation of the emperor's salt policy reform, the gains and losses of a city or a place are not important to the nobles.

But the eunuch party group couldn't do that. It was they who forced the Jianghuai family to rebel. If the situation could not be quickly controlled, the Qingliu party would definitely hold on to this matter afterwards.

Especially since these eunuch party leaders are still in Huai'an City, they all value their lives and have plenty of wealth and glory to enjoy, so they are reluctant to die for their country so early.

If he abandons Huai'an City and runs away, the political impact will be too bad, and he will be badly hurt even if he doesn't die.

“Left Prime Minister, the nobles are holding us hostage at this time only for their own benefit.

If the conditions are not too excessive, you might as well agree to them first, and put the overall situation first!"

Gu Yuansong persuaded tactfully.

Now that the East Factory is powerful, the Jinyiwei has to rely on them. But in essence, the two sides are still in a cooperative relationship, not a subordinate relationship.

As the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he only needs to be responsible to the emperor.

Gu Yuansong can talk about topics that others dare not bring up.

"Humph!"

"Bullshit overall situation!"

"There will come a day when the will of the true self will determine the overall situation!"

“Those damn nobles only know how to bully honest people.

The last thing was not fulfilled because the civil service group was strongly opposed, and I was unable to force the officials to agree.

If they have the ability, they should look for trouble with the civil servants, why would they blame me?"

Zuo Guangen kept on cursing.

After venting his resentment, Zuo Guangen, whose reason prevailed again, had to seriously consider the conditions proposed by the nobles.

In the early days of the founding of the country, the Governor's Office controlled by the nobles had the right to appoint and dismiss military generals below the third rank, and also had a heavy say in the appointment and dismissal of military generals above the third rank.

In the later stages of development, these powers were gradually eroded by the Ministry of War.

The appointment and removal of generals below the third rank by the Governor's Office must first be approved by the Ministry of War, and then reported to the Cabinet for seal and approved by the Imperial Household Department before it can take effect.

More often than not, the Ministry of War would take over the work of the Governor-General's Office, draw up a list of generals who needed to be adjusted, and submit it directly to the Cabinet.

As for the appointment and removal of generals above the third rank, it now becomes a matter of recommending candidates by the court, with the emperor making the final decision.

If the noble group wants to place a large number of their own children into the Southeast Army, they must not follow the current procedure, otherwise the Ministry of War will definitely intervene to prevent it.

"Never mind, it's just a bunch of blank appointment letters for military officers. Tell them that I agree!"

Zuo Guangen said with a cruel heart.

It is definitely against the rules to send out blank appointment documents in advance without going through the Ministry of War and the Cabinet, and when the selection of generals is still unknown.

Once the matter is exposed, it will inevitably cause an uproar in the court.

The Qingliu Group hates him to the core, and once they get a ready-made handle on him, they will definitely take the opportunity to attack him.

However, the last breach of contract led to a decline in the level of trust in the cooperation between the two parties.

No matter how many benefits you promise, it’s useless because people won’t give you anything until they see the rabbit.

Afterwards, they abided by the agreement and implemented the appointment of generals proposed by the nobles, and everyone cooperated to complete the procedures.

If the procedure does not work, people will take the blank certificate, fill in their names, and directly arrange for their children to take up the post.

Zuo Guangen thought it through. His family's reputation had already been ruined, so it didn't matter if it got a little worse.

At worst, he could go back and take the initiative, using the excuse of tracking down the remnants of the traitors to initiate a political purge of the Qingliu Party members.

If you can't solve the problem, solve the people who created the problem.

Get rid of all the opponents, and naturally no one will hold him accountable for violating procedures.

……

Yangzhou City.

"Master Qian Hu, the enemy is shouting at us from below, and the curses are very unpleasant!"

Wu Da said indignantly.

"I heard it. He just said that we are all cowards and also greeted the coach's whole family.

What is there to be angry about? If the enemy wants to curse, then let them curse. Pass the order down, don't pay attention to the enemy's curse.

If anyone feels unhappy, they can curse at the enemy on the city wall."

Li Mu said indifferently.

It's just a few scoldings, his strong heart can totally bear it.

Besides, they are greeting the coach's entire family, what does it have to do with him?

Yangzhou is a big city. No matter how loud the noise outside is, Marquis Wuyang, who lives in the inner city, cannot hear it.

If you can't hear it, it's almost like it doesn't exist.

As a qualified subordinate, you must not cause trouble to your own commander with such troublesome matters.

Perhaps they have watched too many plays, and the rebels outside are still fantasizing that the defenders will come out and fight them.

Little did they know that after firearms were popularized, this backward fighting mode of fighting generals was eliminated by the times.

After despising the rebels in his heart, Li Mu began to admire the scenery on the city gate tower.

The solemn and murderous atmosphere on the battlefield adds a different charm to the misty Yangzhou.

……

Rebel camp.

"Generals, the enemy's defenders are cowards. Challenging them won't work. Prepare to attack the city!"

Zong Guangtai urged.

The siege of Yangzhou City lasted for less than half a month. Except for Huang Renlong's initial anger and raising an army, the rest of the time was a standoff.

As time went on, the number of rebels gathering at the city increased dramatically.

No one can tell exactly how many soldiers there were, but judging from the size of the camp, the number was no less than 300,000, and it was claimed to be one million.

Theoretically, they achieved the goal of "surrounding the enemy if ten are defeated", but in practice, they were simply unable to encircle and annihilate the enemy, and it was extremely difficult to capture the city.

There are men, women, young and old in the army, but the number of young and strong people is not high, and many of them come with their families.

This is the biggest drawback of forming a team centered around local clans.

Without a stable rear, everyone will have to take their families with them.

The commander-in-chief could not refuse, otherwise the soldiers under him might mutiny at any time.

"Mr. Zong, the walls of Yangzhou are strong, and a few siege weapons may not be enough.

It just so happens that the rebels in the south have captured Nantong Prefecture. Why don’t we hurry up and make siege equipment while waiting for them to come and reinforce us?”

A middle-aged man who looked like an accountant suggested.

"Boss Cui, time waits for no one!
The Beijing camp has begun to take action. The rebel army in Huai'an will definitely not be able to withstand it. Defeat is only a matter of time.

Reinforcements from the imperial court are coming from all directions.

If we fail to quickly capture Yangzhou and seize Nanjing before the imperial reinforcements arrive, the rest of the battle will be difficult to fight!"

Zong Guangtai explained helplessly.

The thought of discussing strategy with a bandit leader made him feel suffocated.

Unfortunately, most of the leaders of the rebels have low cultural level, so no matter how frustrated they are, they can only be taught slowly.

“Everyone, I think Mr. Zong’s suggestion is a good one. We should capture Yangzhou as soon as possible.

The amount of supplies consumed by hundreds of thousands of troops every day is a huge number, and the logistics can only support 20 days at most. "

Huang Renlong spoke slowly.

The position of leader was obtained by providing food and fodder to the army.

At the beginning, he felt quite impressive.

After a few days, the idea disappeared.

The consumption of food and fodder was so great that even if he controlled Taizhou City, he would still feel pressured to provide so much food.

"Forget it, for the sake of Alliance Leader Huang, let's attack the city!"

Boss Cui said unhappily.

The grasper has a short hand, and the eater has a short mouth.

If you are in the underworld, you must have loyalty.

……

(End of this chapter)