Chapter 611

Wu Zongda's attempt to transport grain by sea was an attempt. The imperial court hoped that through this attempt, they could use another way to get food and supplies, but this attempt failed, which made them very distressed and didn't know what to do.

The Ming Empire was rich in the South and poor in the north, but it also needed the soldiers and horses of the north to command the world. However, how to transport the food from the south to the North was what the Ming Court planned.

They always transport grain through the canal. The cost of canal transportation is the cheapest of all grain transportation methods at present.

If you use carriages and manpower to transport on land, the cost of transportation will be very large and high. Even if you send a team of people to transport the grain, it will be finished when people arrive in the capital.

At this stage, the imperial court had no choice but to order the ambassadors, prefectures and counties in the north, such as Henan, Shaanxi and Sichuan, to raise food by all means and send it to the capital for military supplies.

At this time, Wen Tiren offered a suggestion that the Zheng family should send troops to attack the Liu family to break its way back.

Wen Tiren's proposal was immediately opposed by the imperial court for many reasons, such as local opposition; For example, his relationship with the Liu family; For example, Zheng Zhilong's birth was something the imperial court was worried about.

But Wen Tiren just had different views. He said: "although Zheng Zhilong has a warm identity, he is still not against it. If he will, he will still be against it. If he does not, he should work for the imperial court."

This sentence made the courtiers feel bright in front of their eyes. Yes! Why didn't you think of this? If Zheng Zhilong rebelled, he would still be rebellious. If he didn't, the court didn't use this force to quell the chaos, which would be a waste.

The most powerful force of Liu thief comes from the sea. His Navy can attack anywhere in the Ming Dynasty, which makes the imperial court miserable. If the imperial court can use Zheng Zhilong's navy to attack these people, cut off the way back and send food, it will change the completely unfavorable situation of the Ming Court.

Therefore, Wen Tiren's proposal has won everyone's support, and now, Wen Tiren is willing to make a guarantee for it. If anything happens, he will be fully responsible.

In fact, at this stage, Wen Tiren, the chief assistant of the cabinet, is also at the time of no plan. If he can't get some real results, the emperor will replace him.

Instead of waiting for the emperor to die, it's better to fight hard. If you succeed, you can continue to be your first assistant. If you don't succeed, go home and farm?

With the strong support of Wen Tiren, the chief assistant of the cabinet, the imperial court decided to appoint Zheng Zhilong as the general of the flat thief. The former military governor was appointed to supervise the grain and grass reclamation of Fujian army and horses. He led his Navy to attack Liu thief by both water and land. After the event was completed, he did not hesitate to crack the earth and seal the Marquis as a reward.

I believe this kind of price can move Zheng Zhilong and let him go. The imperial court immediately passed the imperial edict, and let the special envoy hold the imperial edict and ride a fast horse to the south day and night. At the fastest speed, he sent the imperial edict to Fujian and the Zheng family, and let the Zheng family send troops to attack the Liu family.

With this arrangement, if the Zheng family is really filial and loyal to the imperial court and is willing to fight for the imperial court, they will send a navy to attack Liu thief's back road, which makes his imperial court situation completely different.

Although the imperial court was unable to send troops now, he still tried his best to destroy the rebellion of Liu's army. Now he can't send troops in winter, so they are now preparing food and weapons, and are also preparing to transfer more troops from the southwest. After the warm flowers bloom in spring next year, they will encircle and suppress Liu thieves and strive to destroy them at one fell swoop.

So many court ministers lamented that the war would start and the world would be in chaos.

The imperial court's risky use of Zheng Zhilong is also a desperate move. I hope this move can succeed, but they are not sure, because too many people speak ill of the Zheng family. If the Zheng family colludes with the Liu family, the imperial court will be in danger.

Wu Zongda failed to deliver grain, but he lost his prestige and face. Although Wu Zhongda was a little pedantic and noble, he was not stupid after all. He guessed that his group of subordinates had cheated him. Even if there was no evidence to prove that these people cheated him, there was one thing to be sure, that is, these people were really useless, They are a group of waste. They want to rely on them to fight the world and live a peaceful life. It is impossible, so they can only do it by themselves.

After Wu Zongda came to the place, he didn't have any good strategies and tricks to govern the place. He always used inaction. The so-called inaction is to be lazy and let his men do it by themselves. Now it has been proved that these men can't do anything at all. They don't do personnel except corruption and money.

So he can only go out and deal with these mundane affairs in person. Even his most friendly screen friend Qian Qianyi doesn't want to serve or greet him. He plunges into his military aircraft hall to consider how to solve the crisis in Jiangnan.

The top priority is that he should, together with the new Fengyang general army Wu Feifan, lead these elite troops, first uproot the Liu family's military presence in all parts of the Yangtze and Huaihe River, and kill all these people.

Liu Jiajun is scattered all over Fengyang mansion. There are many strongholds and backyards. There are not many people in each place, but there are many people gathered. This is like a nail and is likely to play a role at a critical time.

For example, they left a battalion of more than 500 troops in Cuigang, 30 miles outside Yangzhou city. The soldiers of this battalion were very low-key. Nothing had happened between the two sides except that something unpleasant happened to Gao Wang, the governor of Yangzhou last time.

They have always stayed in their barracks. There is no other performance except collecting taxes and a common practice. Many people believe that Liu Bu deployed these people here mainly to share a share and enjoy these food and taxes.

It is Xuzhou in the north that gives Wu Zongda a headache. The governor of Xuzhou is as good as Liu Jiajun. It is said that Liu Jiajun stationed thousands of people in the city, all of them elite soldiers, and set up a camp in Jiuli mountain outside the city. This is the real threat under his rule.

So Wu Zongda thought it was time to assemble the most elite troops under his banner, clean up and eradicate the surrounding areas, and then send troops to Xuzhou, destroy the enemies of Xuzhou, and then find a way to go north.

Wu Zongda, who was born as a Jinshi and ranked the third, was very talented. He always looked down on soldiers and thought they were hard-working bitches. He didn't insult his identity by saying a few more words to these people. Now he has no way to fight. He can only forcibly suppress his nausea in his heart, Reluctantly deal with these people.

Wu Feifan is a trusted follower of Wu Zongda. All his affairs are entrusted to Wu Feifan, which means that the reinforcements mobilized from other places are also in the charge of Wu Feifan. Before he served as the general army of Fengyang, Wu Feifan was a garrison of thousands of households and did not make any military achievements. He mainly followed Wu Zongda, a secondary assistant of the cabinet, and then made great progress, Now that he has become such a big official, he doesn't know how to unify the troops to fight and how to plan and deploy. He only knows one thing. It's called Han Xin's troop ordering. The more, the better.

As long as there are many soldiers and generals in his hands, he can win the war. Therefore, as a general soldier of Fengyang, he began to raise flags and recruit soldiers. At the beginning, he was only thousands of people, but after a few months, he has recruited nearly 30000 people. In fact, these 30000 people have been mainly recruited by vagrants, local ruffians and hooligans, However, weapons and armor are another problem. As a result, his army of more than 30000 people can't even handle a long gun and a knife. Many people hold bamboo poles and sharpen them to fill weapons. Military uniforms are diverse and have everything. If they don't know, they think they are rogue bandits and thieves?

In fact, Wu Feifan recruited troops so hard. Wu Zhongda was very pleased. He thought that the people he entrusted had sent him a large batch of food.

The problem is here. Wu Fanfan is a veteran. He is clear about all the rules in officialdom.

To put it bluntly, he is particularly good at corruption. According to the rules, he has to give half of the food to the people above, so that people everywhere can share the profits. As long as these people get benefits, they will speak for themselves, and then leave 20% for themselves. There is no reason why they don't get any benefits. Although it's not a wild goose pulling its hair, it's a common practice. He must do this, The result was assigned to his men, only 30%.

These three costs were only food for 5000 soldiers and horses. As a result, he was forced to suffer as much as 30000, resulting in such an embarrassing situation.

Fortunately, this is the richest Jianghuai and Yangzhou in the Ming Dynasty. They can still get food by extorting from the local governments and the rich. It is no problem to have enough to eat. However, there is no way to prepare weapons and soldiers. Wu Zongda also knew this dilemma and had to order the dispatch from Nanjing, Nanjing has many practices and reserves a lot of weapons, which can be mobilized for military use.

After Wu Feifan arrived at more than 30000 troops, his courage also began to grow stronger. He was thinking that when he became the general soldier of Fengyang, he began to establish prestige. At least, he had to destroy the battalion of Liu Jiajun outside Yangzhou first. Besides, as long as they were destroyed, he could occupy the largest territory.

It is said that the other party collected taxes here for several months and made a lot of benefits. Even if these benefits were transported back to Shandong, they can occupy their camp and let his men and horses have a decent place to settle down.