Chapter 686 The mind has been made!

Judging from the battle report, Ye Mingsheng felt that Yuan Song had basically done the best within his ability, but his opponent was Xu Zhaojie, who had almost no defeats in his life...

If it was Guo Zhiping or Lin Huaiwu who led this battle, Ye Mingsheng did not underestimate his subordinates, but he did believe that the Fengwu Army would suffer greater casualties and it would be impossible for them to withdraw with only 3,000 casualties. Now the only thing Ye Mingsheng was worried about was how serious Yuan Song's injuries were.

The previous battle report only said that Yuan Song was injured, but did not say where he was injured. This is also a situation that Ye Mingsheng needs to consider. If Yuan Song is seriously injured and cannot continue fighting, should he let Ma Zhongjun take over the command, or should he send someone else to take over the command?
In addition, the reform progress in Hebei and Henan is at a critical stage. We must not allow Xu Zhaojie to cause massive damage. We must stop Xu Zhaojie's behavior!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng seemed to have thought of something, and his expression showed some comfort!
In the recent battle report, in addition to mentioning Yuan Song’s defeat, the situation in Qi and Lu was also mentioned.

When the Seventh Division, which was sent by Ye Mingsheng to attack Licheng, arrived at the city of Licheng, the Qi army responsible for defending the city wanted to put up a last-ditch effort. However, after being bombarded by dozens of heavy artillery from the Seventh Division, their resistance attitude suddenly softened. Then, under the bribery and enticement of the Coordination Office, the Qi army defending the city finally chose to cooperate.

Yin Biao, who had originally conspired with Xu Zhaojie, was forced to kill Xu Zhaojie's envoy to show his loyalty to Ye Mingsheng after his hometown Licheng was captured by the Fengwu Army.
This is a blessing in disguise. If Yin Biao knew now that Yuan Song had suffered a defeat at the hands of Xu Zhaojie, this would undoubtedly strengthen Yin Biao's attitude of resistance and make the situation in Qi, Lu, Hebei and Henan worse. Now controlling Licheng is like holding Yin Biao's Achilles' heel.

Although Yin Biao might still have illusions, he couldn't turn the tables now. He could give him a taste of sweetness first, help him destroy Han Wenbao, and then mobilize the troops of Qi and Lu to threaten Anqing from the flank, using the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao, and force Xu Zhaojie to give up attacking Hebei and Henan.

Xu Zhaojie's tactical command ability is indeed powerful. Even Yuan Song on his side is no match for him, and He Jingyun is fighting fiercely with the imperial guards in Yunbing. So the only strategy to defeat Xu Zhaojie now is to mobilize superior forces to consume Xu Zhaojie bit by bit. No matter how strong Xu Zhaojie is, the number of troops he has in Anqing is at most 50,000. After deducting the troops guarding Anqing, the number of troops he can mobilize for attack is at most 30,000!

If the First Division of more than 20,000 people can't defeat him, then use two divisions. If two divisions don't work, then use three divisions. If three divisions don't work, then use five divisions!
In a word, since Xu Zhaojie dared to come this time, Ye Mingsheng would beat him up! Beat him so hard that he was terrified!

The past two months have been the most intense stage of the offensive of the Luoan Imperial Army on the Yunbing battlefield. I must avoid their attack first and hurt Xu Zhaojie so that he dares not go north. Only in this way can I lead my troops to support Yunbing's counterattack with peace of mind!
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Jinyang, in a heavily guarded mansion.

Shangguan Hongyuan, who was tall and majestic, was correcting something, while Huang Da, the left vice minister of the Ministry of War, was quietly waiting with his head bowed in the hall, not daring to make any sound for fear of disturbing Shangguan Hongyuan.

After a cup of tea, Shangguan Hongyuan finished his revisions and handed the memorial to the attendant beside him. The attendant bowed to Shangguan Hongyuan and left quietly. After the attendant left, Shangguan Hongyuan turned his gaze to Chen Jingyu who had been waiting for a long time and said lightly:
"What's matter?"

Facing Shangguan Hongyuan's question, Huang Da immediately said with joy:

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, the urgent news from Anqing, which has traveled eight hundred miles, Xu Zhaojie has defeated the Fengwu Army in Chengfeng County, annihilating more than 10,000 enemy troops. The life and death of the enemy general Yuan Song is unknown. In addition, more than 100 enemy soldiers, a red cannon, and more than 100 Fengwu Army muskets have been captured. Governor Xu has already transported the captured Fengwu Army firearms to Luoan to present to the Prime Minister!"

After saying that, Huang Da quietly looked at Shangguan Hongyuan, waiting for Shangguan Hongyuan’s praise and reward. Because he secretly accepted the three thousand taels of silver sent by Xu Zhaojie, as the left vice minister of the Ministry of War, he had always advocated cooperation with the Zhennan Army to fight against the Fengwu Army in the Luoan court. For this reason, he repeatedly advised Shangguan Hongyuan to increase the firearms support for Xu Zhaojie...
Now that Xu Zhaojie has won the battle in Anqing, he has broken the myth of the invincibility of the Fengwu Army and exerted pressure on the Fengwu Army from the south, forcing the Fengwu Army not to devote itself wholeheartedly to the Yunbing battlefield. This naturally shows the correctness of his advocacy of uniting with Xu Zhaojie. Therefore, he is also proud of Xu Zhaojie's victory this time.

However, to Huang Da's disappointment, Shangguan Hongyuan, who heard the news, was not as happy as he had imagined. He just nodded very calmly. It seemed as if he was not happy to hear that Xu Zhaojie had won the battle, but was thinking about what to eat for dinner.

Shangguan Hongyuan believed that he knew Xu Zhaojie very well. It was he who promoted the young Xu Zhaojie step by step to the position of commander of the Xuanwu Army, making Xu Zhaojie the invincible Marquis Zhenyuan of the Great Zhou.

Therefore, based on his understanding of Xu Zhaojie, Shangguan Hongyuan felt that Xu Zhaojie most likely won this battle, but there was still a lot of water in the battle report!

The first point is the number of Fengwu troops annihilated. Xu Zhaojie said that he annihilated more than 10,000 enemies. You should know that according to the intelligence of the Supervisory Department, the enemy Xu Zhaojie faced was the most elite First Army First Division of the Fengwu Army, which had a standing force of only more than 20,000. Xu Zhaojie said that he annihilated more than 10,000 enemies, which means that he crippled the most elite troops of the Fengwu Army! Destroyed them!

As the battle on Yunbing battlefield progressed in the past few days, Shangguan Hongyuan had a clearer understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Fengwu Army. Therefore, he felt that Xu Zhaojie's troops in Anqing were not enough to kill the most elite troops of the Fengwu Army...

Perhaps Xu Zhaojie could achieve this by gathering all the troops of the Zhennan Army, but it is impossible to accomplish this task with only tens of thousands of people in Anqing!
Of course, since Xu Zhaojie dared to report that 10,000 enemies were annihilated, it at least means that Xu Zhaojie had several thousand troops, probably less than 5,000. If it was more than 5,000, given Xu Zhaojie's character, he would definitely report that 20,000 enemies were annihilated, and he would never report that 10,000 enemies were annihilated as he is doing now!

In addition to exaggerating the number of enemy troops killed, Shangguan Hongyuan was also certain that Xu Zhaojie had concealed something about the spoils. Xu Zhaojie must have actually captured more, but he reported less, and then pretended that all the spoils were given to himself.

Whether it was exaggerating the situation of annihilating the enemy or concealing the captured weapons, Xu Zhaojie had only one purpose, which was to show his attitude to himself and prove his value in holding Ye Mingsheng back on the southern front, so as to ask for more firearms from himself. If it was three months ago, if Xu Zhaojie presented these firearms to himself, Shangguan Hongyuan would be very happy even though he knew Xu Zhaojie's intentions. After all, with this batch of firearms, he could arrange for craftsmen to better imitate the firearms of the Fengwu Army.

But now he has clearly realized that it is difficult for him to completely imitate the firearms of the Fengwu Army. The first point is the quality of steel. The steel used by the Fengwu Army to manufacture firearms is made of new technology, which has better hardness and flexibility. Secondly, there is the problem of gunpowder that needs to be solved...

Even if all these problems were solved, according to the Fengwu Army's firearms standards, with their current manufacturing processes and techniques, it would take at least a hundred craftsmen a month to make a cannon. However, the Fengwu Army's manufacturing factory only needed a dozen craftsmen and half a month to complete the task.

After understanding this situation, Shangguan Hongyuan had no choice but to accept the reality and was forced to lower the standards of firearms in the hope that craftsmen could manufacture cannons faster and send them to the front line.

However, although these hastily manufactured Zhengdong cannons were much more powerful and had a much better range than the old artillery, due to the lowering of manufacturing standards, various accidents often occurred after intensive use of the Zhengdong cannons, and there were even multiple cases of barrel explosions, which caused complaints from many gunners in the army. Shangguan Hongyuan had no good solution for this and could only suppress the voices from the front line.

Therefore, the firearms sent by Xu Zhaojie can only be said to be better than nothing, and cannot have any impact on the current situation. Thinking of this, Shangguan Hongyuan asked Huang Da directly:

"How many firearms does Xu Zhaojie want?"

Seeing that Shangguan Hongyuan had directly exposed Xu Zhaojie's thoughts, Huang Da, who was also honored, felt somewhat embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, he tentatively said:
“Xu Zhaojie wants 10,000 Shenwu guns and 30 Zhengdong cannons. He said that as long as you, the Prime Minister, give him these firearms, he can go all the way north to capture the bastard Ye Mingsheng for you…”

Shangguan Hongyuan snorted coldly when he heard this. He naturally would not believe Xu Zhaojie's nonsense. Of the two people, Ye Mingsheng and Xu Zhaojie, he was actually the most angry at Xu Zhaojie, not Ye Mingsheng. If it weren't for his promotion, Xu Zhaojie, even if he had some ability, could have become the commander of the Xuanwu Army so quickly. Becoming one of the most senior generals in the imperial army?
But Xu Zhaojie repaid his kindness with lies and betrayal again and again!

Although Ye Mingsheng, who was once his personal soldier, also betrayed him, Ye Mingsheng was just a small figure at that time. Although Shangguan Hongyuan hated his betrayal, compared with Xu Zhaojie, Shangguan Hongyuan had no impression of Ye Mingsheng at all.

The reason why he is now joining forces with Xu Zhaojie to deal with Ye Mingsheng is entirely because the Fengwu Army led by Ye Mingsheng is developing too fast, and he is forced to do so due to the situation. If there were no Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army, Shangguan Hongyuan would be dealing with Xu Zhaojie now.

If Xu Zhaojie could really wipe out the Fengwu Army and Ye Mingsheng, then Shangguan Hongyuan would have to sell everything he had to get them, not to mention the 10,000 Shenwu guns and 30 Zhengdong cannons. But it was obvious that Xu Zhaojie was just bragging...

Even though Xu Zhaojie is already in Anqing, he has only assembled 50,000 men in Anqing, and more of the Zhennan Army's troops are still in Huainan. This means that Xu Zhaojie does not really want to go north to fight Ye Mingsheng. Now he is most likely just making a feint attack to let the Jiangnan area relax their vigilance. If he really gives him the firearms he wants, Xu Zhaojie will most likely copy his tactics to take over Huainan, make a feint in Hebei and Henan, and then rush to Jiangnan!
After figuring this out, Shangguan Hongyuan was too lazy to waste time talking and made the decision directly:
"Once the Yunping war started, the firearms we produced ourselves were not enough for the front line. How could we have any extra to give to Xu Zhaojie?"

"Tell Xu Zhaojie! Give him at most 2,000 Shenwu guns and 5 Zhengdong cannons!"

"Isn't he also researching and manufacturing firearms? Then let him make them himself!"

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Governor's Palace, Study
Looking at Zhao Han's departing back, Ye Mingsheng shook his head slightly. He had been very optimistic about Zhao Han, thinking that he had a very flexible mind and clear thinking, so he promoted him to be He Jingyun's deputy and became the deputy chief of staff of the General Staff. He was looking forward to him taking over He Jingyun's job one day.

But now it seems that although Zhao Han has some wisdom, compared to He Jingyun, he still lacks some decisiveness and ruthlessness!

In the report just now, he, on behalf of the General Staff, gave Ye Mingsheng the advice that the main focus should be on maintaining stability. In their opinion, Xu Zhaojie would not stay in Hebei and Henan for too long, so as long as the situation did not escalate seriously, it would be acceptable. This was completely contrary to Ye Mingsheng's idea!
He, Ye, would not hope that Xu Zhaojie would leave on his own. Since Xu Zhaojie dared to take action, he would make Xu Zhaojie pay the price in blood!
Just when Ye Mingsheng had made up his mind, the attendant Ye Cheng walked into the study and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Your Excellency, the Madam wants to see you for something!"

Although he was a little curious about why An Miaoyi, who seldom came to the study to see him, suddenly came to see him today, but since An Miaoyi came, Ye Mingsheng would naturally not turn his wife away, and nodded at Ye Cheng immediately·······························
(End of this chapter)