Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 60, Advancing Fan Liang

However, after Wang Ziteng arrived in Yangzhou, he read out the imperial edict in public and took over the army of Duke Shanguo.

At this time, as the cities of Gaoyou and Hailing were successively captured, the expansion of the Huaiyin bandits was inevitable.

The city occupied by the Huaiyin bandits is centered on Huaizhou, connected to Zhongwu in the north, Gaoyou and Hailing in the south, and with Yancheng as the economic center, it has become a small country.

Now the Huaiyin bandits can go south to attack Yangzhou and cross the river, and go north to attack Xuzhou or Shandong.

Advance to attack, retreat to defend.

It would be extremely difficult to contain them unless they were overwhelmed by massive military force.

However, despite this, the Huaiyin thieves still have a small loophole.

That is Fanliang Lake.

Today, Fanliang Lake is still under the control of Zhang Yuan. His naval force of more than 12,000 people is well-equipped and has advanced warships.

In the naval battle, Fang Yong has never been able to gain much of an advantage.

Zhang Yuan led his men to launch surprise attacks from water many times, appearing and disappearing like a ghost.

Although each sneak attack never caused too much damage to the opponent, it was really annoying if it continued like this.

After Wang Ziteng took over the army, he sent someone to call Zhang Yuan over alone to discuss with him how to defeat the Huaiyin bandits.

Zhang Yuan was a mature general in his thirties, with a short beard, tall and strong build, and a determined and spirited gaze.

After Zhang Yuan came over, facing Wang Ziteng, the imperial commissioner and governor of Suzhou, he naturally did not dare to be disrespectful, and bowed down honestly.

Wang Ziteng asked Zhang Yuan what methods he had to use to defeat the Huaiyin bandits in the face of the current situation.

Zhang Yuan knew how difficult the current situation was, but coincidentally, he actually had a plan!
"Sir, I think that if we want to break the current situation, we can only attack the enemy when they are unprepared!"

Wang Ziteng was stunned. He was just asking as usual, but he didn't expect Zhang Yuan to actually have a plan.

Wang Ziteng immediately asked curiously:
"Attack the enemy by surprise? The Huaiyin bandits are surrounded by strong cities on all sides and heavily guarded. How can we catch them by surprise?"

Zhang Yuan replied:
"This is not difficult. You can lead your troops to feint and attack Hailing to attract the attention of the enemy army. I will lead the troops to advance by sea, take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, and attack Yancheng directly. Once we win, we can solve the dilemma of Huaizhou in one fell swoop."

Wang Ziteng was shocked when he heard this.

What a great idea!

If we follow this method, we may be able to break the situation.

If he could really wipe out the Huaiyin bandits...

Wang Ziteng couldn't help but think about it, stroking a jade pendant in his hand, not knowing what he was thinking about.

After a long while, Wang Ziteng asked:

"How sure are you?"

Zhang Yuan said: "Forty percent."

Wang Ziteng stopped what he was doing and asked in disbelief:
"Only 40%?"

Zhang Yuan explained:
"The Huaiyin bandits are known for their cautious tactics and thorough planning. Although Yancheng's defenses are weaker, they are also heavily guarded. Even if we attack them by sea and catch them off guard, it will be extremely difficult to win. Saying that we have a 40% chance of success is already an overestimation."

After hearing this, Wang Ziteng's mood instantly dropped.

Zhang Yuan's words were like a bucket of cold water poured on him, stopping his inappropriate thoughts.

Wang Ziteng accepted the jade pendant and returned to his original heart.

He said to Zhang Yuan:

"I have received your Majesty's grace and vowed to crush the rebels. Now the rebel army is strong, and a 40% chance of victory is already rare. I would like to follow General Zhang's plan. However, the key to this plan is to win by surprise. General Zhang must keep it strictly secret and do not let others know. Except for me, you must not disclose it to anyone else."

Zhang Yuan heard this and felt that Wang Ziteng had thought it through and there was nothing wrong with it, so he replied, "As you command."

Before leaving, Zhang Yuan did not forget Wang Ziteng.

After he leaves, the Huaiyin bandits might take the opportunity to attack Fanliang Lake, so Wang Ziteng should be prepared in advance.

Wang Ziteng nodded in agreement.

Zhang Yuan no longer had any doubts and went down to prepare.

After Zhang Yuan left, Wang Ziteng called other generals and issued a military order.

He was going to form a brave battalion to deal with the Huaiyin bandits. All soldiers who had previously raped and harmed the Huaiyin bandits and civilians under the military order of the Duke of Shan Guo could join the brave battalion, be promoted one level, and receive double military pay.

For a time, those in the army who had done these things were all delighted.

Those who did not, sighed.

In the end, Wang Ziteng's brave battalion had 4513 people. In fact, there should not be so many people, and a large number of soldiers were fake.

However, Wang Ziteng was too lazy to tell the difference. They were just a bunch of low-level minions. Since they chose to do this, they could only blame their bad luck.

Not long after, Zhang Yuan secretly went out to sea with 12,000 soldiers.

Wang Ziteng assembled an army of 100,000 and attacked Hailing head-on.

Niu Jin led 20,000 troops to defend Hailing.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle.

Fanliang Lake is a huge body of water comparable to Hongze Lake.

All along, Zhang Yuan has relied on the vast water veins of Fanliang Lake to fight against Fang Yong's army and remain invincible.

Now that Zhang Yuan had left, Gan Ba immediately led the navy to attack Fanliang Lake.

Zhang Yuan took away almost all the navy. Now the defense in Fanliang Lake was like a foregone conclusion. Gan Ba successfully occupied Fanliang Lake in just half a day. In this way, the last gap in Fang Yong's defense was filled.

Wang Ziteng was furious when he heard the news.

He immediately summoned all the generals at all levels of the army and asked them where Zhang Yuan had gone and why he had given Fanliang Lake to the enemy.

Naturally, no one in the entire army knew about this problem.

Suddenly, a soldier remembered something and said:

"I once heard Zhang Yuan say that he was dissatisfied with Your Majesty and threatened to surrender to the Huaiyin bandits..."

Soon, Wang Ziteng informed the three armies.

Zhang Yuan led his army to join the Huaiyin bandits.

……

On the other hand,
Beijing.

The prison car escorting Chunyu Jian arrived in the capital faster than the one carrying Duke Shanguo.

The reason for this situation was that Duke Shanguo was not in a hurry on his way back to Beijing.

Duke Shanguo knew that once he returned to the capital, even if he could escape death with the help of the golden medal of immunity from death, he would definitely not be able to leave the capital again for the rest of his life.

Therefore, Duke Shanguo did not rush on his way back to Beijing, but instead visited cities along the way while returning to Beijing.

In comparison, Chunyu Jian was escorted back to the capital at full speed, so his speed was naturally faster than that of Duke Shanguo.

At the same time, Wang Ziteng's memorial was also sent to the capital.

Your Highness, Prince Teng, respectfully submits:

"Your Majesty, I have an urgent matter to report.

A few days ago, while on my way to take up my post, I heard that Chun Yujian, a general under the command of Duke Shan, had surrendered Gaoyou and Hailing to the Huaiyin bandits. When I hurried over, the matter was already a foregone conclusion and could not be reversed.

According to my investigation, Chunyu Jian's move was intentional.

He first got his generals drunk, secretly opened the city gate, and let the thieves in. Then he opened the gate of Hailing for the thieves, causing Hailing to fall into the hands of the thieves.

Afterwards, Chunyu Jian was treated with courtesy by the bandits and sent back. They even carved words on his chest to show his "merit". If I had not happened to meet him and captured him, this person who secretly colluded with the bandits would probably have gotten away with it.

Today, Gaoyou and Hailing have been destroyed, and the enemy troops are approaching. I led my men to fight bravely, and after going through many hardships, we finally repelled the enemy.

However, our army is short of food and grass, our armor is in tatters, our weapons are damaged, and many of our artillery pieces are destroyed. In this situation, if the enemy attacks again next time, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist them.

In view of this, I boldly ask Your Majesty to quickly transport 5,000 sets of armor, 300 skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, 50,000 swords and guns, and 1,000 cannons to supplement the military equipment. In addition, I ask for 1.5 million taels of military pay to solve the urgent problem.

With these military supplies, I will repay your majesty's grace with my life, and I will go all out, and within a month or so, I will quell the rebellion and achieve results.

Your Highness, Wang Ziteng, bows his head and bows again, and respectfully reports. "

(End of this chapter)