Yao Zhong had no objections to this candidate, but he was very excited about his own experience.
He tried his best to defend himself, saying that it was impossible for him to burn down the warehouse. This must be a conspiracy by outsiders or something like that.
Some of his subordinates also tried to speak for him and try to free him from suspicion.
But it's up to them to say that whether Zhou Linzhi believes it or not depends on Zhou Linzhi himself.
Obviously, Zhou Linzhi couldn't believe it.
"It's unclear what his guilt is now. If you don't want to get into trouble, don't continue talking. Otherwise, no one can save you once the incident happens!"
Zhou Linzhi has been in a high position for a long time and has the attributes to suppress these middle-level and low-level officers.
Those harsh words were spoken, and those who wanted to speak for Yao Zhong did not dare. .
Mainly because it happened so suddenly, they didn't even know if Yao Zhong set the fire.
I have never passed Qi before!
So they could only keep their mouths shut and watch Yao Zhong being dismissed, and then they each performed their duties and waited for the new boss Wang Yan to take up his post.
In order to demonstrate his courage as a political advisor and his responsibility to the court, after Zhou Linzhi captured Yao Zhong, he also led a tour of the border areas of the Ming and Song Dynasties, inspected the border infantry and border waterproof troops, and found that Yao Zhong had carried out attacks on Xiangyang. The three-dimensional defense transformation is still good.
Based on Xiangyang's geographical conditions, Yao Zhong took advantage of the superior naval forces of the Southern Song Dynasty to deploy naval forces in the water system around Xiangyang City to delay any attack by the Ming army.
With the mobility of the navy, the Ming army's advantage in cavalry can be offset to a considerable extent, and it will force the Ming army to adopt water warfare methods to fight fiercely with the Southern Song Dynasty. This will drag the Ming army into a protracted war and create trouble for the rear. The main support of the Southern Song Dynasty bought time.
After listening to Yao Zhong's generals explaining Yao Zhong's tactics, Zhou Linzhi felt that Yao Zhong was indeed a famous general with great talents.
It's a pity that his politics are not up to par.
A person who is not good at politics cannot be appointed, no matter how strong his literary talent or military skills are. He must be good at politics.
He cannot stay here and needs to be taken back for questioning.
But after all, is this really what he sees?
Yao Zhong has been complaining and saying that he is not at fault. Is this really true?
Zhou Linzhi couldn't figure it out either.
On the eighth day of March, Zhou Linzhi set off from Ezhou and returned to Lin'an. This turmoil ended with the victory of the civil servants.
But is this really the end of the matter?
Obviously it's not that simple.
Zhao Yucheng was overjoyed when he learned that Yao Zhong had been taken away.
At this moment, Zhao Yucheng basically knew some of the next plans and plans of the Southern Song Dynasty.
According to the report of the Tianwang Army spies, the Southern Song Dynasty court was preparing to launch a new round of military offensive against the peasant army regime on Jiangnan West Road, and the first coach decided was the experienced anti-gold general Yao Zhong.
According to the spy's report, Yao Zhong was good at using troops, was brave and prestigious, and led troops very methodically.
While he was guarding Xiangyang, he carried out a three-dimensional defense transformation of Xiangyang. He was not good at fighting in mountains but bad at fighting on plains because he was born in Sichuan. Instead, he cleverly used the water system around Xiangyang and increased the investment in naval forces. This made Xiangyang City's defense more three-dimensional.
This is quite similar to the strategy adopted by Yue Fei when he dominated the Jinghu Theater.
Therefore, Zhao Yucheng believed that Yao Zhong was difficult to deal with, and it would not be a good thing to let the inexperienced peasant army deal with such a person.
But now that Yao Zhong has been removed from his post, the new general is Zhou Yun, the commander of the Infantry Division of the Guards. This is a little-known ordinary general. He is not outstanding and has not made any mistakes. He seems to have some status and background. Anyway, he is not relying on Those with high military merit.
This time, the Southern Song Dynasty planned to invest in two armies, the Guard Infantry Division and the Ezhou Army, with a strength of about 60,000. They originally planned to invest in the Xiangyang Army as the main force, but at this point, the Xiangyang Army could only exist as a reserve force and could not serve as the main force. .
However, this did not change the Southern Song Dynasty court's decision to launch an encirclement and suppression offensive. They obviously could not tolerate the existence of the peasant military regime.
After careful consideration, Zhao Yucheng felt that it was necessary to convene a military meeting. He summoned the main generals and instructors of the peasant army and held a meeting that was not long but of great significance.
Zhao Yucheng pointed out at the meeting that in past battles, the Song Army took the initiative to launch attacks, and they had to respond passively. This was because they did not have a firm foothold and did not have a strong army. They could only defend but not attack.
This is a helpless move.
Now, after more than a year of development, the peasant military regime has established a firm foothold here.
The army has expanded to a full strength of 80,000 people, and has a certain degree of field combat capability and attack ability. All kinds of ordnance are relatively complete, and food is almost ready.
In this case, it may not be appropriate to continue to adopt a policy of holding on rather than being proactive.
"If the Song Army comes, it will definitely cause damage to our construction results. We will also have to relocate people and let them leave their homes that were built with great effort. This will be a huge cost. I like what the chairman said very much. , to keep the enemy outside the country’s gates.”
Zhao Yucheng spoke at the meeting: "Since we already have enough military strength, why are we still here waiting for the Song army to attack? The military intelligence of the Southern Song Dynasty is the same as the knowledge in books here. As long as you are willing to read it, Always got it.
One large army is stationed in Hanyang, Ezhou, one is stationed in Xiangyang, and the other is stationed in Jiujiang. The three armies combined have a total strength of 100,000 people. It can be said to be huge, but there are many internal problems.
The elite Xiangyang army is leaderless for the time being. The Jiujiang army is known as the forbidden army of the imperial court, but it is relatively mediocre. The general has no military exploits to establish the country. The entire army has also done business with us and is willing to resell arms to us.
Not to mention the Ezhou army. The entire Ezhou government is doing business with us. The logistics are so bad that they even want to cooperate with us to deal with their own generals. It is incredible that this kind of government can cooperate with the army to win the war. "
Zhao Yucheng crossed his hands and looked around nervously at the people around him.
"So I thought maybe it's time for us to take the initiative."
Officers, you look at me and I look at you. Some are surprised, some are pleasantly surprised, and some are worried.
The commander of the 30th Division, Lu Chengren, expressed some worrying thoughts.
"What you said is indeed true, but at present, unless our army moves south in an all-round way, if our army alone wants to open up a situation in Jinghu and take the initiative to attack, facing a hundred thousand Song troops, it may still be It’s a little difficult.”
Lu Chengren slowly said: "Over the past year or so, our army has indeed made great progress, but we cannot just think that the Song army must be very incompetent and will collapse at first touch. At least the ones left by Yao Zhong and Wu Gong That army is not weak."
