Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 212: Risky Strategy
Shi Fuhuangting, Shi Lang and others hurried to the Tong'an City Government Office. As soon as they entered the hall, they saw two people sitting on the upper left.
On the left is Zhang Tongchang in a scarlet robe, and below is a middle-aged man in a green official robe with a serious face. This man should be Zhang Jiayu, the special envoy of the Gui Regent who just entered the city.
Shi Fu looked at the two civil officials who were already one step ahead of everyone else and were sitting in the hall. His eyes flickered slightly, but his expression remained unchanged. He continued to lead everyone into the hall and take their seats.
The two parties greeted each other and exchanged their names. Before Shi Fu and others could say anything, Zhang Jiayu spoke.

"I came here under the order of the imperial court to investigate the situation of the Qing army in Tongan and Changtai counties. Before I came, I thought Tongan had been surrounded by the Qing army, but when I entered the city, I found that there was no soldier outside the city."

"Changtai is now surrounded by Qing troops. Since Tong'an is safe, why did Duke Gu sit back and watch Changtai being besieged without sending troops to rescue it?"

Shi Fu looked at Zhang Jiayu, who had a serious expression on his face, and his heart sank slightly. Zhang Jiayu was aggressive from the moment he arrived. It was obvious that he was not an easy person to deal with, just like Zhang Tongchang.

Shi Fu also felt a little tricky. Each of these ministers in the court of Gui Regent was extremely powerful. This also showed the atmosphere of Gui Regent's reign.
Shi Fu subconsciously looked at Zhang Tongchang on the opposite left, but Zhang Tongchang ignored Shi Fu's gaze and just sat on his seat with a calm expression.

When they entered the hall, Zhang Jiayu and Zhang Tongchang were already sitting in the hall. Shi Fu didn't believe that the two civil officials had not communicated with each other beforehand.
Zhang Jiayu must have known the reason why they were defending the city, but he pretended not to know and asked. It was obvious that Zhang Tongchang was planning to use Zhang Jiayu, the new imperial envoy, to force them to send troops.
Shi Fu also knew Zhang Tongchang's purpose, but Zhang Tongchang was determined not to speak, so Shi Fu could only reply.

"Doctor Zhang has just arrived in Tongan and is not familiar with the situation there. Although Tongan is not under siege, there are still Qing troops outside the city, so we can only defend the city tightly."

Zhang Jiayu heard this, but there was no surprise on his face. As soon as Shi Fu finished speaking, Zhang Jiayu immediately spoke again.

"May I ask, Duke Gu, how many Qing troops are there outside the city now?"

Shi Fu's face showed a trace of difficulty, and he looked at Zhang Tongchang opposite him, but Zhang Tongchang was still like a wooden sculpture, just sitting on the chair calmly.

Shi Fu saw this and realized that his repeated rejections over the past few days had already made Zhang Tongchang unhappy. Zhang Tongchang would probably not say anything to excuse them at this moment.
When Shi Fu thought of this, he had no choice but to speak.

"There are three thousand Qing cavalry outside the city"

Zhang Jiayu's face immediately turned cold when he heard this. There were 18,000 Shifu soldiers in the city and 8,000 Huang Ting soldiers. No matter how many vacancies there were, at least there were 26,000 Ming soldiers in the city.

Now these 20,000 people are trapped in the city by only 3,000 Qing troops. It's ridiculous.
Shi Fu obviously knew that this seemed a bit unreasonable, and he quickly said
"Doctor Zhang, you don't know that although there are more than 20,000 troops in the city, Fujian Province is located in the south, and the army has always been short of horses. There are only more than 1,000 cavalry in the city now."

"I also sent people to fight against the Qing invaders outside the city, but the cavalry under my command was unable to win. After losing hundreds of cavalry, I had no choice but to retreat back to the city again."

"The Qing invaders outside the city are relying on their cavalry to harass us constantly. If we send a small army out of the city, they will lead their troops to attack and kill us. If we send a large army, they will immediately flee and not fight with us at all."

"Now there are only naval infantry in the city, but no cavalry. Even if we want to kill the bandits, the Qing captives can do nothing about it."

Zhang Jiayu looked at Zhang Tongchang who was standing beside him. Zhang Tongchang also nodded slightly. However, although Zhang Tongchang admitted what Shi Fu said, Zhang Jiayu's expression did not ease.
What Shi Fu said seemed to make sense at first. The Ming army in the city could not deal with the Qing cavalry. If they rashly sent troops to support Changtai, the Ming army's infantry would be attacked by the Qing cavalry on the way. Without a way to fight back, the Ming army in the city could only defend the city.

But this reason does not stand up to scrutiny. No matter what, there are 20,000 Ming troops in the city. Even if they cannot deal with the cavalry outside the city, can these 20,000 people really do nothing?

It is true that the city lacks cavalry and is unable to fight against the Qing cavalry, but the bigger reason is probably that Shi Fu and others saw the Qing army coming back and were suspicious, so they used this as an excuse to preserve their strength and wait and see.
Zhang Jiayu was about to ask Shi Fu and others to take the initiative to attack, but at this time Shi Fu and Huang Ting looked at each other and spoke first.

"The Qing invaders were unable to persuade them to surrender, and out of rage, they raised an army to besiege the two counties. May I ask Minister Zhang, how will the court respond now?"

Zhang Jiayu looked at the generals staring at him and said softly

"After hearing the news from Fujian Province, His Royal Highness Gui, the Regent, went against all odds and personally led 50,000 troops to the east. Now His Royal Highness has entered Fujian Province and is currently confronting the Qing army led by Beile Bolo in Zhao'an."

When the generals heard what Zhang Jiayu said, they were all shocked. His Highness Gui, the Regent, had actually come to Fujian Province, and brought with him an army of 50,000!

No wonder Zhang Jiayu was so powerful after entering the city

Shi Fu and the others felt a little depressed. This Regent had won a great victory over the Qing army in Guangdong Province, and then he led the imperial army directly to Fujian Province. It was obvious that he wanted to pacify Fujian Province in one fell swoop.

From this incident alone, it can be seen that the prince must be an extremely strong and decisive person. Now they have tens of thousands of troops under their command. If they stay in the city for a long time, it will definitely make the prince Gui the regent dissatisfied.

This Gui Regent is not like the Longwu Emperor who has only the title but no soldiers under his command.
According to Zhang Jiayu, His Royal Highness Gui Jianguo has 50,000 men under his command. These people wiped out Li Chengdong and traveled thousands of miles to Fujian Province to actively seek war. They are obviously an elite force.

During the Longwu Dynasty, even if they disobeyed orders, Emperor Longwu could do nothing about them.
Even if Emperor Longwu was dissatisfied, he could only issue an imperial decree to reprimand them, or at most demote them. As long as the army was still in their hands, Emperor Longwu would have to use them sooner or later.

But Gui Jianguo is different. Once he displeases him, he is really capable of sending troops to wipe them out.
Gui Jianguo's army was able to wipe out Li Chengdong's Jiangnan veterans, so it could certainly wipe out Shi Fu's Fujian troops.
Although the Gui Regent court would certainly not act so drastically unless it was absolutely necessary, the mere possibility of this was enough to terrify Shi Fu and other Fujian generals.

Zhang Jiayu glanced at the generals opposite him who had uncertain expressions, thought for a moment, and then his expression suddenly became serious. He said in a deep voice:
"Now, His Royal Highness the Regent and Governor Zhang Kentang are both confronting the Qing army. The tens of thousands of troops in Tong'an City are sitting in the city alone. This is absolutely not acceptable."

Shi Fu and the others' faces changed slightly when they heard this. They were about to speak, but Zhang Jiayu waved his hand to stop them and said

"The Qing invaders knew that Tongan had tens of thousands of troops, but they only sent 3,000 cavalry to harass the city. It was obvious that their military strength was stretched to the limit."

"The army of Tongan City should attack now to disrupt the Qing army's plan and help Fujian Province win!"

"Generals, it would have been fine before, but now even His Royal Highness the Regent has already gone to the front line. There is no reason for us officials to shrink back. This is not the time to conserve our troops."

Shi Fu and the others' faces changed slightly when they saw Zhang Jiayu directly point out the matter.

However, everyone was unable to cope with the situation at this time. As Zhang Jiayu said, even His Royal Highness the Regent had personally led the army into battle. How could they, the ministers, just sit there and do nothing?
As Gui Jianguo led his troops into Fujian Province, Shi Fu and others no longer had the chance to wait and see. If they still insisted on defending the city at this time, Zhang Jiayu and others would naturally have no way to deal with them.
But afterward, the imperial court under Gui Regent will certainly settle accounts with them. Nonsense, you were watching the show while the imperial court was leading the army to fight the enemy, and then when you saw that the battle was won, you came over and shouted a few long live the imperial court, and then you wanted to take money and salaries from the imperial court's pocket. How could there be such a good thing in the world?

If so, then are you the emperor, or is Gui Jianguo the emperor?
Zhang Jiayu didn't care what everyone thought and said directly

"Changtai is under siege. It is useless to defend Tongan at this time. I have two ideas. One is to send all the troops out of the city and abandon Tongan, and drive directly to the city of Changtai, and cooperate with Governor Zhang and others in Changtai to defeat the Qing army under the city of Changtai."

"Second, the whole army should leave the city and do the opposite, attack Quanzhou by both land and sea. After taking Quanzhou, they should go north and approach Fuzhou, causing chaos in the rear of the Qing army."

"I don't know much about the current situation in Fujian Province. Which of these two strategies do you think is better?"

Shi Fu and Huang Ting looked at each other, and their hearts sank. Zhang Jiayu looked like he was asking for their advice, but in fact he was forcing them to make a choice.
No matter which of these two options they choose, they will have to send troops to fight the Qing invaders. It is impossible for them to continue to defend the city.

"What Doctor Zhang said makes sense. We previously defended Tongan in order to protect Changtai's retreat. But now Changtai is surrounded, and it is meaningless to defend Tongan. Only by taking the initiative can we establish victory for Fujian Province," Zhang Tongchang finally spoke at this time.

Shi Fu and the others looked at Zhang Tongchang who was approving, and they couldn't help but curse in their hearts.

Reasonable? How could it not be reasonable? These two plans were actually proposed by Zhang Tongchang himself. Zhang Tongchang had asked them to take the initiative many times before, but they had always refused with various reasons.
But now with the pressure from Zhang Jiayu, the special envoy of the regent, it is difficult for them to refuse.

Even so, Shi Fu and the others still looked embarrassed and remained silent for a long time. They were unwilling to attack. On the one hand, they wanted to preserve their strength and wait and see the situation, but on the other hand, Shi Fu and the others really had no confidence in themselves.
Shi Fu or Huang Ting, these older generation generals all came from the navy and had no real experience in land warfare.
The opponents they had fought before were almost all mountain bandits in Fujian Province. The Qing army swept across the north and south and had long been very powerful. Now they were suddenly facing them. Shi Fu and others had no idea what to do.

Shi Fu and the others hesitated and remained silent for a long time, but at this moment, a sharp light flashed in Shi Lang's eyes. He suddenly stood up and said

"General Shi Lang greets Doctor Zhang"

"I dare not say what the army will do next, but if the city is really preparing to send out the entire army, then the two strategies mentioned by Doctor Zhang are both problematic."

"At this moment, the Qing invaders have surrounded Changtai City. If we go to Changtai, even if we can stop the harassment of the thousands of cavalry outside the city and successfully reach the city, it will still be hard to tell who will win."

"If we go to Changtai, the Qing cavalry outside the city will surely follow. At that time, although we and Governor Zhang in the city can attack us from both inside and outside, the Qing cavalry outside Changtai and the Qing cavalry following us will also attack us from both inside and outside."

"If we follow this strategy, I'm afraid that when we arrive at Changtai City, the decisive battle will begin. In such a battle, we will either win or lose. In my opinion, this strategy is too risky."

Everyone in the hall frowned when they heard this, but before anyone could say anything, Shi Lang continued

"If we follow the second strategy, there will also be some problems. We can certainly attack Quanzhou by land and sea, but there are also 3,000 Qing cavalry outside the city. If we send troops to Quanzhou, the Qing will definitely retreat back into the city."

"Although we have more people, the Qing invaders will rely on the city walls, and we may not be able to easily capture Quanzhou. Even if we can take Quanzhou and successfully advance to Fuzhou, the Qing invaders still have an advantage in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and can collect food on the spot at any time, so it will be difficult to make them lack food in a short period of time."

"Even if we besiege Fuzhou, we can only cause chaos in the Qing army's rear for a while. In the short term, it will not pose a threat to the Qing army in Changtai and Zhao'an. If we act according to this strategy, it will be too slow."

Zhang Jiayu's face darkened when he heard this, and he said

"What does General Shi mean? Is he still planning to stay in Tongan City?"

Shi Lang saw that Zhang Jiayu looked unhappy, but his face remained unmoved. He glanced at Shi Fu above him, and then spoke softly

"Whether we should continue to stay in the city, I dare not say rashly, but if we are preparing to mobilize the entire army, then I think it is better to make a feint to the east and attack the west, and directly transport troops by sea to attack Zhangzhou!"

Shi Lang's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he spoke immediately without waiting for anyone to ask.

"There was a military report from Changtai City earlier, saying that the army besieging Changtai was roughly between 20,000 and 30,000. According to Doctor Zhang, Bolo has led more than 10,000 men to Zhao'an to confront His Highness, so there are only 10,000 Qing troops left in Changye."

"Governor Zhang also has more than 20,000 men in Changtai City. In order to trap Changtai and force it to surrender, the Qing invaders will certainly place a large army under Changtai City. In this way, the Qing army's strength has been almost exhausted, and there must not be many defenders in Zhangzhou City."

"Yuegang is only a few dozen miles away from Zhangzhou. If we use ships to transport troops to land at Yuegang, we can reach the city of Zhangzhou in half a day. As long as we can capture Zhangzhou by surprise, the Qing invaders in Fujian will surely collapse."

As Shi Lang spoke, he told his entire plan, and Zhang Tongchang and Zhang Jiayu above him listened to what Shi Lang said, their eyes became brighter and brighter. If they acted according to Shi Lang's plan, there was a great possibility that they would be able to capture Zhangzhou!

Now the Qing army in Zhao'an and Changtai depends entirely on Zhangzhou for communication. If the Ming army can really take Zhangzhou by surprise, the Qing troops in the two places will be cut in half immediately, and the Ming army in Zhangzhou can attack at any time, attacking the Qing troops in these two places from both inside and outside.
Zhang Tongchang thought of this and said without hesitation.

"General Shi, this is a very good strategy. Let's use it to launch a surprise attack on Zhangzhou!"

Shi Fu looked at the ambitious Shi Lang below, and his face was a little ugly. He knew that his nephew was very keen on power, but he never thought that he would come up with such a radical plan in order to gain merit.
If this strategy succeeds, Shi Lang will surely excel in this battle in Fujian Province. However, if the surprise attack on Zhangzhou fails, the consequences will be disastrous.
Rushing to Changtai's aid was certainly risky, but Shi Lang's plan was even more risky. If the surprise attack on Zhangzhou failed, once the Qing army from Changtai City came back to support, the army attacking Zhangzhou might be completely wiped out.

But it must be said that Shi Lang's strategy has a higher success rate, and if it succeeds, the results will be great.

Shi Fu was unwilling to risk his soldiers, but the plan was proposed by Shi Lang, and Zhang Tongchang and Zhang Jiayu were also very supportive of it.

Shi Fu hesitated again and again, but finally did not speak. He just looked at Shi Lang below with a complicated expression.

Shi Lang was already in a state of excitement at this moment. If this plan could be accomplished, he, Shi Lang, would definitely be very prominent in the Gui Regent's court. Since his uncle could be conferred the title of Duke, he, Shi Lang, might be able to earn another Duke for the Shi family on his own!
Seeing that no one objected, Shi Lang immediately spoke up.

"If this strategy is to succeed, the more people we send to raid Zhangzhou, the better. It would be best if we could mobilize the entire army and directly break into the city with the force of a mountain pressing down on us."

"We only have one chance to launch a surprise attack on Zhangzhou. Although Yong'an Marquis has ships under his command, I'm afraid they cannot transport so many soldiers to attack Zhangzhou at once. The only one who can immediately provide so many warships is probably Zheng Cai. If we can't borrow any ships, this plan will be difficult to implement."

Huang Ting frowned when he heard this and said softly

"Zheng Cai has returned to Lu as the regent. We have had many disputes before. I am afraid Zheng Cai may not be willing to help us transport troops."

Zheng Cai has always been domineering. At this time, each side claims to be orthodox. It is good enough that Zheng Cai does not add insult to injury. How could he be so kind as to lend a boat to transport troops?

When the people in the hall thought of this, some looked relieved, while others frowned. However, Zhang Jiayu was unmoved. Before he came, he had read the intelligence of Lu Jianguo and others, and also knew the situation of Zheng Cai and others.

Zhang Jiayu thought for a moment, then looked at Shi Lang below.

"In the Lu Dynasty today, Zheng Cai's words may count"

"The Prince of Lu was defeated in Zhejiang Province and his power was greatly damaged, so he connected Zheng Cai to the Zhongzuo. Zheng Cai was a strong person, and the Prince of Lu also discussed many things on the island with Zheng Cai."

Although Shi Lang's words were cryptic, Zhang Jiayu immediately understood what Shi Lang meant. Although Zheng Cai had received the regent Lu to Fujian, it was clear that he only intended to use the Prince of Lu as a cover. Zheng Cai still had the final say on the affairs of Zhongzuosuo Island.
Zhang Jiayu thought of this and was certain in his heart. He said

"I am also an old acquaintance of Zheng Cai. In this case, General Shi, please go to the island with me and borrow a boat from Zheng Cai."

"I know Zheng Cai's personality. He is very smart and knows how to judge the situation. If it was before, Zheng Cai would definitely not be willing to lend the ship to transport troops. But now that His Royal Highness Gui Jianguo is suggesting that the army enter Fujian, it is another matter."

Zhang Jiayu chuckled, and everyone listened to what Zhang Jiayu said, but they were all thoughtful.

After everyone in the hall had discussed it, Zhang Jiayu took Shi Lang and a dozen guards on board the ship that afternoon and headed towards Zhongzuo.
(End of this chapter)