Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 182 Several Key Characters
Since Guo Zixing has not experienced the kind of growth in history, he is generally a bit timid now. He does not want to cause any more trouble and is happy to complete the tasks assigned by his superiors.

As for not having any merit and difficulty in getting promoted, he was not particularly worried. First of all, his position was right here, as the commander of the Eighth Regiment, which was considered a top position in the entire group. In addition, he had two daughters to marry, so he was not afraid that he would not be promoted!
But now Zhang Desheng and Cao Liangchen are determined to lure the enemy out of the city to attack the reinforcements, and his son also tends to side with them. He can't say anything. He can't admit that he is afraid of fighting, right?
Besides, as long as he did not give clear support, even if there were any problems in the future, he could still blame it on the deputy commander Zhang Desheng.

Thinking of this, Guo Zixing stopped objecting and said.

"Since the deputy commander insists on doing this, and he is the only one in my regiment with actual combat experience, I should indeed listen to his advice. However, as the commander-in-chief, I have to be responsible for the military orders of the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief. They only asked my regiment to attack the reinforcements, but did not ask us to force the enemy to leave the city. If something goes wrong, I still have to reserve my opinion."

"Dad!" When Guo Tianjue heard his father say this, he understood that he did not want to take responsibility, and immediately called out in a low voice, signaling Guo Zixing not to say such things.

Zhang Desheng said nonchalantly, "Of course, the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief did not ask us to actively lure the enemy. This is my own understanding. If anything goes wrong, I will take the responsibility alone!"

"Count me in as one. I'm not afraid of these things anyway. I don't know about other things, but since the Marshal has agreed to attack Anqing and dared to make such a decision, it means nothing serious will happen." Cao Liangchen immediately expressed his support for Zhang Desheng.

"Okay, let's make it a deal. We'll quickly prepare food and supplies. The commander-in-chief has only given us two days, and we have to set out in two days. I'll lead the team when we get to Shahe. If you two have any plans, just go ahead and try them, but my team will definitely not set out easily." Seeing that the two men were determined to do so, Guo Zixing agreed.

"Okay." Zhang Desheng and Cao Liangchen looked at each other and nodded in unison.

They then began to mobilize their troops, prepare food and supplies, and plan their marching routes.

At the same time, at the Marshal's Mansion in Luzhou, Bao Yu, the director of the Military Academy's Military Order Division, also hurriedly came to Lu Jin with a stack of documents.

"General, this is the city defense map of Anqing, Qianshan, Tongcheng, Wangjiang, Taihu, and Susong. The map of Tongcheng may not be very accurate. Tongcheng is too close to our army and is heavily guarded. No one is allowed to enter but not leave. This was drawn by the civilians we found outside the city who have been in the city. The current situation in the city is not very clear, so we cannot guarantee its accuracy."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately took over several maps. These were all information collected by the Military Intelligence Department of the Military Command Department in recent times. Except for Tongcheng, the situations of other cities were relatively detailed.

The map of each city is divided into two parts. One is the regional map, which marks the number of villages and towns in the area where the city is located, the locations of the villages and towns, the areas adjacent to the city and other county towns, as well as information such as official roads, post stations, bridges, rivers, ferry crossings, gullies, mountains, forests, etc.

The other is a detailed map of the city, which shows the circumference of the city, how many gates there are, which direction each gate faces, what its name is, the size of the gates, the height and thickness of the city walls, whether it is brick-covered, whether there are towers, whether there is a moat outside the city, how wide and deep the moat is, and when there is water in it. All the hard indicators of city defense are available.

In addition, there is a street map inside the city, which shows the detailed locations of the city's main streets, canals, rivers, wells, bridges, as well as government offices, military camps, granaries, armories, large grain stores, bell and drum towers, and other important facilities. If it is used for street fighting, how many people would be saved if such a map could be obtained before the battle begins!
Lu Jin was immediately delighted and said, "That's right. From now on, reconnaissance in various places will be based on this. In addition to these hardware conditions, we must also strengthen the collection of software intelligence, such as the number of garrisons, military equipment, the resumes and hometowns of generals, where the civil servants in the city are from, their reputation, etc."

Bao Yu frowned upon hearing this and said, "General, it is sometimes difficult to scout the enemy's garrison strength, especially when the enemy is at the gates of the city, the city will temporarily conscript civilians as soldiers. As for officials and generals, there are brief introductions in the data. If there are officials or generals transferred in the city, the data will be updated as soon as possible, but there will be some delays."

Lu Jin nodded, not embarrassing him, knowing that Bao Yu was telling the truth. After all, the transportation and communication conditions in ancient times were like that, and it couldn't be much faster. It was already very good to be able to obtain the hardware information of each city.

He immediately sent the maps of Tongcheng, Qianshan and Anqing to Liao Yongan by express horse. As for the maps of Taihu, Wangjiang, Susong and other places, he kept them for the time being. Anyway, there would be no fighting in the short term, so he did not send them to the front line to avoid leaking them and letting the enemy know that there were spies from the Shengwu Army in the city.

After sending this important information, Lu Jin finally had the leisure to ask Bao Yu, "Tell me about the recent work of the Military Intelligence Department. How are the arrangements in various places going? And how many of the people I asked you to find have you found? Let's talk about Anqing first."

"Yes." Bao Yu immediately began to report to Lu Jin on his work during this period.

"Marshal, the current working area of ​​the Military Intelligence Department is divided into three major regions, namely the Huaihai Region, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Region, and the Jiangxi Region.

"There are five stations in Jiangxi District, namely Anqing Station, Jiangzhou Station, Nanchang Station, Luling Station and Ganzhou Station. Anqing Station is the closest to us and is responsible for all the cities in the entire Anqing Road. It was also the first station to be deployed, so we were able to obtain these maps.

"As for important target figures, the Marshal has asked us to keep an eye on the transfer of officials and generals in Anqing Road. We have also paid attention to this, but there have been no changes in recent months. At least up to now, the Yuan court has not responded."

Lu Jin nodded when he heard this. The reason why he wanted to attack Anqing now and why he asked Bao Yu to pay attention to the transfer of officials in Anqing was because he was worried that the Yuan court would transfer Yu Que here to be an official.

Yu Que was an official who was extremely famous and influential in both the literary and official circles. Although his ancestors were Tanguts, this guy taught several famous students. In history, Wang He under Zhu Yuanzhang and Wang Guangyang, the prime minister of the Hongwu Dynasty, were both students of Yu Que.

This man is also a tower defense master, a figure comparable to Zhang Xun of the Tang Dynasty.

In view of the Red Turban Rebellion that began in the 11th year of Zhizheng and the increasingly worsening situation, the Yuan court made two deployments in the south. One was to station a large number of capable ministers and generals in the Fangshan area northwest of the Dabie Mountains, as well as heavy troops to block the Red Turban Army's northern expedition to the Central Plains from Jingxiang.

Another arrangement was to transfer Yu Que to Anqing in the 12th year of Zhizheng to block the Xu Song Group in Huguang area from going east along the river.

Yu Que was indeed a capable man. After arriving in Anqing, he only did three things: cultivating the land, gathering refugees, and building cities. He built cities with his life. During the seven years he was stationed in Anqing, he fought more than 200 battles with the Red Turban Army of various parties and never lost a battle, blocking the eastern gate of Jiangxi.

It was not until Chen Youliang unified the forces in most parts of Hunan and Hubei that he came to fight Yu Que to the death. Finally, he used the method of wasting lives, launching round-the-clock attacks and not allowing the defenders to rest, and finally captured Anqing where Yu Que was stationed, and then went south to attack the whole of Jiangxi.

Yu Que himself also committed suicide after the city was broken, and he could be regarded as a loyal minister of the Yuan Dynasty. Lu Jin remembered that there was such a person, who was probably transferred to Anqing this year, but he was not sure which month it was.

Originally, in history, it was at the end of the 12th year of Zhizheng, when the red army of Xu Song crossed the Yuling Pass and attacked Hangzhou, and was then counterattacked by the reinforcements from Jiangnan. The central court of the Yuan Dynasty was frightened and almost lost the wealth of Jiangnan. That's why Yu Que was sent to Anqing to block them.

Although he was not sure when Yu Que would come, it was obvious that the sooner he attacked Anqing while he was able to, the better. The sooner he could occupy this strategic location, the easier it would be. In the future, he would be able to seize the strategic initiative whether in attack or defense.

Obviously, now is the best strategic window period to attack Anqing!
Seeing that Lu Jin didn't react much, Bao Yu spoke again.

“If the Marshal only wants to attack Tongcheng, Anqing, and Qianshan this time, and also wants to leave Taihu and Wangjiang behind, then Anqing Station will have to stay for a while, but the headquarters will have to be moved to Susong.

"As for Jiangzhou Station, the chief of Jiangzhou Road is named Li Fu. He is from Bozhou and the only top scholar in Bozhou since the Sui and Tang dynasties. He seems to have a good reputation. Jiangzhou's military affairs are mainly handled by Jiangxi Province Pingzhang Tu Jian Bu Hua. I haven't heard that this person is anything out of the ordinary, and I am still collecting information about him.

"As for Nanchang Station, the Marshal asked us to find a man named Wang Dayuan. He said that he had sailed to sea twice, traveled thousands of miles across the sea, and also wrote 'A Brief Account of the Island Barbarians'. These clues are obvious and should be found. However, Nanchang is too far away, so we haven't found this man yet. As for Luling Station and Ganzhou Station further upstream on the Ganjiang River, they have not been established yet."

Lu Jin nodded again after hearing this. After all, it was far away, and it had only been a few months since he proposed setting up an intelligence station. Now there was chaos and war, so setting up the station could not attract attention, and indeed it could not be done too quickly. But he still gave instructions.

"Wang Dayuan is a man I can use greatly. After you find him, don't contact him first, so as not to scare him away. You can contact him without revealing your identity, talk to him about some overseas affairs, and then test his attitude towards us. If the time is right, you can also invite him to come. No, forget it. I think we should wait until we conquer Jiqing Road. By then, we will have a foundation and he will come."

"Yes, I will find someone to try him."

Lu Jin nodded and asked, "How are the Huaihai District and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang District developing now?"

Bao Yu then continued to flip through the information and introduced it.

"We have only set up two stations in Huaihai District, namely Yangzhou Station and Suzhou Station. Yangzhou Station is responsible for all prefectures and counties in Yangzhou Road, and is also responsible for intelligence collection in Gaoyou Prefecture. Suzhou Station is mainly facing the direction of Xuzhou.

"The situation in Yangzhou Road is better. This is now the location of the Yuan court. The situation in Xuzhou is more difficult. Zhima Li's rebel army is there now. It is not convenient for us to move around. They are afraid that spies from the Yuan court will sneak into the cities.

"As for the important targets on the Yangzhou Road, the Marshal has asked us to pay attention to two of them. One is Sun Deya who escaped from Dingyuan. He and Yu Shiliang are now camping at Shiliang Station next to Tianchang County on the Yangzhou Road. They had planned to launch a surprise attack on Tianchang County, but Tianchang County was well guarded and quite vigilant, so they were unable to succeed. They fought a battle in Tianchang and suffered some casualties, with about 7,000 to 8,000 men left.

"Sun Deya and Yu Shiliang seem to have a conflict. Yu Shiliang seems to want to flee to Xuzhou, but Sun Deya insists on conquering a city on the Yangzhou Road. Neither of them can convince the other, so they stopped at Shiliang Station."

"What is Shiliang Station? The Yuan court's post station? Or our intelligence station?" Lu Jin asked with a frown.

"It's a larger town, a local place name, not our intelligence station," Bao Yu explained immediately.

"Well, keep talking."

"In addition to Sun Deya's gang, there are also salt gangs in Yangzhou Road and Gaoyou Prefecture that the Marshal wants to pay attention to, especially Lu Zhen's gang. We are still doing business with Lu Zhen, but I heard that Dingyuan seems to be producing salt as well. Should we continue to buy salt in the future? The price they ask for is not cheap." Bao Yu reminded again.

Lu Zhen was a general under Zhang Shicheng who led an army of 100,000, but at that time he was only a small leader in the Salt Gang. Originally, Lu Jin wanted to make friends with this person because, firstly, his own territory was short of salt and he had to rely on these private salt sellers to get salt; secondly, he wanted to build a relationship with this person to see if there was a chance to get him to his side.

But now that the salt wells in Dingyuan are about to produce salt, the question is whether or not to continue buying private salt from Lu Zhen at a high price.

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "Let's put this aside for now. Even if Dingyuan has salt production, it's hard to meet our needs right now. We still have to trade, but we need to let him bargain a little. If there are other arrangements, I'll tell you then. You need to leave your contact information with Lu Zhen so that you can find him if something happens."

"Yes." Bao Yu immediately wrote it down in his notebook, and then said, "In the direction of Suzhou Station in the Huaihai District, we have now found the Deng father and son that the Marshal mentioned. They are indeed in Xuyi, building a stronghold to protect themselves. They have a lot of soldiers under their command, at least several thousand people, which is probably equivalent to one of our regiments."

"Don't worry about the Deng family yet. Let's wait until the fighting in the north breaks out. But it's best to keep some people around them and publicize our army's achievements so that when they can't hold on in the future, they will know where to go." Lu Jin instructed again.

Bao Yu immediately noted this, and then said, "Then there are people inside Xuzhou. The Marshal is looking for Mao Gui, who is now a general under Xue Xian. I'm afraid it's not easy for us to poach him. But Fu Youde has not been found yet. Maybe he is not well-known. We are still asking around."

Lu Jin was also helpless when he heard this. Fu Youde had been running back and forth between various forces because he had never been valued. This guy first joined Xuzhou, then Liu Futong, and then the Western Route Army of the Longfeng Northern Expedition, then went to Hanzhong, and then went south to Ming Yuzhen, and then to Chen Youliang, and finally fell into the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang. In this circle, he almost traveled through most of China. All the rebel forces at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, except Fang Guozhen, had basically been joined by him. If he could be conquered early, his strengths could be brought into play earlier.

But now he is not well-known and is still a little-known figure in the Xuzhou Sesame Li Group. It is difficult to find him. Lu Jin can only do his best and leave the rest to fate.

(End of this chapter)