Chapter 421 Gongdu Battle Plan!

"Sir, there is really no other way. I have used everything I can..."

Xu Liu said with a sad face:
After he finished speaking, he seemed to have thought of something, and his expression was a little hesitant. Shen Jianzhong saw this and urged:

"What did you think of? Tell me now!"

Xu Liu hesitated for a moment after hearing this, swallowed his saliva, and said in a low voice:

"Sir, the reason why the factory's output is low now is mainly because the quality rate of the firearms made by these palace craftsmen is low. It is actually very simple to increase the output. Just lower the standard of firearms. However, the quality standard I require now is already very low..."

"If the standards continue to be lowered, then even if these firearms are produced, the quality will be a big problem. It is very likely that they will explode after just a few shots and will no longer be usable!"

Hearing Xu Liu's suggestion, Shen Jianzhong's eyes narrowed and he secretly thought about this proposal in his heart.

After Xu Liu finished speaking, he quietly looked at Shen Jianzhong's expression and continued to report:

"My lord, this is the situation. I can't think of any other way except this one. If it really doesn't work, please take me down and ask for help from someone else!"

As soon as these words came out, Shen Jianzhong snorted coldly and said:
"Okay! Xu Liu, are you really going to give up on me at the last minute?"

Feeling the chill in Shen Jianzhong's words, Xu Liu shuddered and quickly explained:

"My lord, it's not that I'm running away from the battlefield. I'm just afraid of delaying your important work..."

Seeing Xu Liu's miserable look, Shen Jianzhong really realized that if he wanted to complete the task assigned by Yue Wang Kangxin to produce 100 firearms per month, this was the only way he had left.

He and Wang Kangxin have a hatred that is equivalent to the hatred of killing their fathers. The reason they can live in peace now is all driven by interests. If he cannot complete the task assigned by Wang Kangxin, then there is no doubt that Wang Kangxin will become more and more impatient with him, so the consequences this time are naturally self-evident.

After weighing the pros and cons, Shen Jianzhong came up with an answer. He looked at Xu Liu and said:
"Xu Liu, listen to me carefully. You must make firearms for me here and make sure to increase the output of the factory!"

Although Shen Jianzhong's words seemed to be nothing, Xu Liu cleverly grasped the deep meaning behind them, and his spirits immediately lifted. He said in a low voice:
"With your instructions, sir, I will definitely increase the factory's output. I will be able to produce seventy firearms this month!"

Hearing the number of seventy, Shen Jianzhong nodded slightly. He believed that using the same method, the firearms factory in Liujing would also be able to significantly increase production. In this way, there should be no problem producing one hundred guns per month.

As for the quality issues, I can’t care too much about them for now. I can just make excuses like weather reasons or improper operation by the users...
After dealing with this issue, Shen Jianzhong was no longer very interested in inspecting the firearms factory. However, at this moment, one of his men walked up to him and whispered something in his ear.

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Shen Jianzhong did not hesitate and led his men out of the firearms factory. After wandering around for a while, he arrived at a courtyard in the county town.

"I am Sun Lin, your subordinate, and I am honored to meet the Governor!"

A dusty, ordinary-looking middle-aged man in the yard bowed and saluted upon seeing Shen Jianzhong:

After looking Sun Lin up and down, Shen Jianzhong asked:

"No need to be polite! Sun Lin, you are in such a hurry to come to the palace, but is there any change in Liaoyang?"

"Yes, sir! I got a top-secret message. The Black Dragon Society's Kobayakawa Takahide was captured by the Coordination Office in Dongning!" Sun Lin nodded and reported in a deep voice:

After hearing the news, before Shen Jianzhong could speak, his subordinates behind him said anxiously:

"My lord, it is not good news for us that Kobayakawa Takahide has fallen into the hands of the Coordination Office. He knows the secret between Wang Kangxin and the Black Dragon Society. If Kobayakawa Takahide's sister-in-law tells Ye Mingsheng this news, then our plan will be..."

Shen Jianzhong could naturally think of what his subordinates could think of. Although he knew that the possibility of it being fake news was very low, and given Sun Lin's always steady character, if he was not 100% sure about the news, he would never report it to him. However, Shen Jianzhong still had a glimmer of hope in his heart and confirmed with Sun Lin:
"Is this news reliable?"

Under Shen Jianzhong's gaze, Sun Lin nodded affirmatively and said:
"Sir, this news is definitely true. It was the Director of the Coordination Office, Huo San, who personally led a team to capture him outside the city of Dongning. Our secret agents in the Coordination Office have confirmed it again and again."

As soon as these words were spoken, Shen Jianzhong closed his eyes in pain, and the last glimmer of hope in his heart was completely shattered.

Ever since he suffered a disastrous defeat in Liaoyang and became a stray dog ​​in Gongdu, he has been thinking all the time about how to fight his way back to Liaoyang... Wang Kangxin and his tens of thousands of new troops in Gongdu. In Shen Jianzhong's eyes, he has the hope of fighting his way back to Liaoyang. Although this hope is slim, Ye Mingsheng has completely controlled Liaoyang step by step. The situation on Wang Kangxin's side is delicate and danger may occur at any time. The strength gap between the two sides is huge.

But Shen Jianzhong always believed that as long as he hid better like Ye Mingsheng and chose a suitable situation, he would be able to use the way Ye Mingsheng came to power to catch Ye Mingsheng off guard and pull this damn little wolf cub down from the throne of the governor.

Once Kobayakawa Takahide really falls into Ye Mingsheng's hands, Shen Jianzhong will no longer have any hope that Kobayakawa Takahide can keep the secret.

And once Ye Mingsheng knows their strategic intentions and is prepared, they will no longer have the advantage of a surprise attack. With Wang Kangxin's strength, it will be difficult for him to pose too much of a threat to Ye Mingsheng...

Thinking of this, Shen Jianzhong felt even more distressed. He calculated that Ye Mingsheng would definitely plot against Youyan, so he planned to let Wang Kangxin sneak attack Youyan while the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole is behind.

But what no one knew was that he had bribed Wang Kangxin's concubine and put a chronic poison in the tea that Wang Kangxin drank every day. When the plan succeeds in the spring of next year, Wang Kangxin will die of the poison. By then, he can take over Wang Kangxin's army without bloodshed and completely destroy Ye Mingsheng's Fengwu Army regime, telling his former student that the old ones are still the best!
But things don't always go as planned, God doesn't help him!
"Sir, should we tell Wang Kangxin and Sato Kaga about this news?" a subordinate at the side asked:

Shen Jianzhong was depressed at this time, and no longer had his usual shrewdness and wisdom. He shook his head and said irritably:

"Let me think about it!"

··················
··················
Dongning, Fengwu Army General Staff Headquarters.

Standing in front of the sand table, He Jingyun, the chief of staff, was personally standing in front of the sand table and introducing to Ye Mingsheng the combat plan of the Fengwu Army's expedition to Gongdu.

"Sir, this time our army plans to split into two routes. The first division led by General Yuan Song will have 18,000 troops. They will set out from Fengzhou and pass through Huishan, heading straight for Seosan County, the north-south transportation hub of the palace, to threaten the enemy's capital, Liujing."

"The other route is led by General Guo Zhiping's Third Division and General Peng Ce's Fourth Division, with a total of 29,000 troops. They will set out from Posuo Prefecture, pass through Gongdu Ning'an Road, and head towards Wanfeng Prefecture, an important town in the north of the enemy!"

"This time, our army will split into two groups to lure the main force of the Gongdu army out to encircle and annihilate them, while the other group will respond from afar and take advantage of the situation to penetrate and force the main force of the enemy to engage in a head-on battle with our army!"

Listening to the battle plan given by He Jingyun, Ye Mingsheng studied it carefully. Gongdu is a peninsula and the width is not very large. According to the distance marked on the map, even if Wang Kangxin's Gongdu new army surrounded one route, the other route could also quickly come over to provide support.

To put it simply, the plan for this operation was that the General Staff was very confident in the combat effectiveness of the Fengwu Army. In order to avoid a huge offensive battle, they lured Wang Kangxin's main force out of the city for a decisive battle. So they deliberately exposed a flaw and divided the troops into two groups, luring Wang Kangxin out to encircle and annihilate him...

When Wang Kangxin leads the army out, another group of troops will quickly move over to join the battle. In terms of distance and strength, the task of bait should be performed by the 18,000-man First Division of Yuan Song's army!

After all, the troops on this route were more than 10,000 less than those on the second route! Moreover, the route was closer to Wang Kangxin's base camp, Liujing. For Wang Kangxin, who had nearly 50,000 troops, this was a piece of fat meat in front of him.

Judging from the route of Guo Zhiping's troops, the distance between them and Yuan Song's troops was approximately three hundred miles. With the Fengwu Army's attack speed, this would take about three to six days. However, this is just a reference. As long as Wang Kangxin and Shen Jianzhong beside him are not stupid, they will definitely send a detachment to block the enemy from a dangerous position and delay the time for Guo Zhiping and his support.

Ye Mingsheng has a habit of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst when doing things. Now taking all the unfavorable situations into account, then in the worst case scenario, Yuan Song’s troops will most likely have to fight alone for ten days surrounded by an enemy force that is twice their size...
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng seemed to understand why He Jingyun arranged Yuan Song’s First Division as the bait.

First of all, in the competition between Yuan Song and Guo Zhiping for the first general of the Fengwu Army, He Jingyun always believed in Yuan Song's ability. Secondly, Yuan Song was caught off guard and surrounded by the Zhenwu Army, which was twice his size, at the city of Dongning, and was surrounded and fought for a while!
In that battle, except for the initial night raid where Yuan Song was stunned by the sudden attack of the Zhenwu Army, he basically made the best choice he could make under the circumstances at the time, showing the calm, rational and tough side of a commander. So compared to Guo Zhiping, Yuan Song is experienced in this regard!
Although the combat effectiveness of Wang Kangxin's new army in Gongdu is still an unknown, as a general who has participated in the Gongdu War, Ye Mingsheng has some understanding of the level of the people in Gongdu. These people in Gongdu are just weaklings. Whenever they encounter the Luobi people or Japanese pirates, they have to ask Da Zhou for help in resisting.

Ye Mingsheng really couldn't believe how much the fighting power of these Gongdu people would improve just by changing their names and with the training and command of Wang Kangxin.

In terms of combat effectiveness, they are definitely not as good as Wang Muzhi’s Zhenwu Army. Yuan Song was able to hold out for several days under the siege without collapsing when suddenly attacked by the Zhenwu Army. This time, with some preparation, he should have no problem holding out for a while under the siege of the new army in Gongdu...
If He Jingyun's battle plan succeeded and Wang Kangxin was lured to lead the main force out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the Fengwu Army in the wild, then not only would a battle with huge losses be avoided, but it would also be very likely to shorten the scheduled battle time by one month, resolve the hidden dangers in the palace before the arrival of the cold winter, and withdraw the troops back to Liaoyang.

The risk and reward are proportional. Ye Mingsheng decided to trust his subordinates and the Fengwu Army he built!
"In principle, I agree with this battle plan! General He, please convey this plan to General Yuan. If General Yuan agrees with the battle plan without any doubt, it can be implemented!" Ye Mingsheng opened his mouth and ordered:
Hearing that Ye Mingsheng agreed to his battle plan, He Jingyun smiled and said;
"Understood, sir! I will arrange for someone to deliver the battle plan to General Yuan in a moment. I believe there should be no problem with General Yuan's side!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng nodded, encouraged the staff members with a few words, and then left and returned to the Governor's Mansion.

Sitting in the carriage on the way back, Ye Mingsheng closed his eyes and said to Ye Kui outside the carriage:
"Tell Huo San to ask him and Kobayakawa Takahide to speed up the progress, contact various forces in Gongdu, disrupt the court of Gongdu, and intensify the conflict between Wang Kangxin and the Black Dragon Society. We must not let them continue to be stable like they are now!"

"Yes!" Ye Kui nodded after hearing that, turned around and told someone to deliver the letter.

Sitting in the carriage, Ye Mingsheng quietly opened his eyes, a cold light flashed. This time when he sent troops to the palace, it was time to settle accounts with Wang Kangxin and Shen Jianzhong. Ye Mingsheng, who was busy entering the pass to attack Youyan, could have let these two guys survive for a while, but unfortunately some people just didn't know how to appreciate it.

These two people are now like a toad that doesn't bite but is annoying. If you leave them a way to live, they might jump out at any time to disgust you and affect your next plan, so you can only let them die··················
(End of this chapter)