A month ago, the Coordination Office noticed Chen Shangye and originally wanted to capture him directly. However, some clues confirmed the situation and the Coordination Office believed that the man lurking within the Fengwu Army could be found through Chen Shangye. Jiang Kuang···························
After confirming this idea, the Coordination Office finally decided to take a long-term approach and try to exploit Chen Shangye and dig out Jiang Kuang!
After clarifying this idea, the Coordination Office began to further refine the details of the plan. Through some clues, the Coordination Office learned that Chen Shangye bought a house next to the Chen Mansion, and the old house was bulldozed to build several new large tile-roofed houses. Therefore, the Coordination Office handed over this task to Zhang Chengzhe.
Ask Zhang Chengzhe to disguise himself as a mason and sneak into the Chen Mansion to look for clues related to Jiang Kuang!
It has been five days since he entered the Chen Mansion. Although Zhang Chengzhe has not found any information related to Jiang Kuang in these five days, he has also made some gains. For example, he can confirm that Chen Shangye and the newly built Datile Fang is most likely related to the Supervision Department!
The evidence is that this guy Chen Shangye was able to spend 800 taels of silver to buy the house next to the Chen Mansion!
This guy Chen Shangye has been in the Youyan officialdom for decades and has made a lot of money and land. However, when he was tried, all of this guy's illegal gains were confiscated and he was also fined one thousand taels of silver.
In addition, he was sentenced to three years and was released from prison a year early. His family also spent a lot of money in activities, so his family fortune has long been emptied. According to the investigation of the Coordination Office, Chen Shangye now has only this An old house, and hundreds of acres of ancestral land outside Yijing City...
Before hooking up with the Supervision Department, Chen Shangye lived in a very poor life. His only source of income was the rent from his 100-acre ancestral land. He couldn't even do the daily repairs on the old house, and all the old servants who had served him for decades were dismissed. , in order to supplement the family income, his wife Yang even sold her jewelry.
Therefore, Zhang Chengzhe really couldn't figure out why he would buy someone else's house when he was so strapped for money?
Under the governance of Fengwu Army, Yijing has been prospering in recent years. In this troubled times, there are shadows of the prosperous times. As the economy develops, housing prices will naturally rise. The housing prices in Yijing are generally higher than before. 30% to 50% higher.
Therefore, after learning that Chen Shangye was interested in buying his house, the original homeowner loudly shouted out the price of one thousand taels. After some haggling, the deal was finally settled for eight hundred taels of silver!
After buying the house and rebuilding it, it was a big project. The labor and materials cost one or two hundred taels of silver. If counted together, it would definitely exceed one thousand taels of silver!
In this era when overseas silver has not poured into Dazhou on a large scale and caused inflation, the purchasing power of silver is still very strong. The fiscal balance handed over to the central government by Youyan Province every quarter is only two to thirty thousand taels of silver. .
It was not a big problem for Chen Shangye to come up with this thousand taels of silver when his house was not confiscated, but now Zhang Chengzhe absolutely does not believe that Chen Shangye can still afford such a huge sum of money... ···················….
And since Chen Shangye can't pay for it, who can?
There is only one answer and that is - the Supervision Department!
No one is rich these days. The Fengwu Army is in financial difficulty, and the Luo'an court is also in financial difficulty. With financial constraints, the Supervision Department has limited funds for activities. In addition, the Supervision Department's stalls are too large, and there is no place for money. There are too many, so even though the Fengwu Army is the main infiltration direction of the Coordination Office, they won't get much money!
According to information from the Coordination Office, the Luo'an court can provide the Fengwu Army with funds for espionage activities every year, which is about three thousand taels of silver, and the rest needs to be raised by itself!
Therefore, from this point of view, the Supervision Department can use one-third of its annual activity funds to buy and renovate this house. The purpose is definitely extraordinary, and it may have something to do with this mysterious and elusive Jiang Kuang. !
Thinking of this, Zhang Chengzhe hesitated for a moment. After a while, he saw other craftsmen around him. They were all doing their own work. No one wanted to take care of their own work. Then he pretended to take over and left the job until he was out of everyone's care. Looking at the sight, Zhang Chengzhe quietly walked towards the arch...
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Huainan, Kangyin
Zhang Meng and Ma Zhongjun stood side by side on the watchtower, concentrating on the siege situation at this moment. At this time, tens of thousands of Fengwu soldiers of the Fourth Army and the First Division under Kangyin City were under the cover of artillery fire. Carrying ladders and pushing carts, they launched a fierce attack in the face of the enemy's missing arrows and rolling rocks and trees.
Looking at the stalemate siege situation in front of them, Zhang Meng and Ma Zhongjun had very solemn expressions. After burning incense and watching the soldiers of the Fengwu Army being driven down by the enemy, Zhang Meng couldn't help but sigh with regret, and then Looking at Ma Zhongjun beside him, he said:
"General Ma, no wonder the dog thief Xu Zhaojie sent Zhao Jiye to guard Kangyin. This man really has two skills!"
"Furthermore, Kangyin is one of the most fortified cities in Huainan. Our army's artillery will not do much damage to the city in the short term!"
Ma Zhongjun nodded slightly and said:
"Mr. Zhang, what you said is true. Kangyin is not an easy bone to chew. Back then, Xu Zhaojie fought hard here for several months and barely managed to capture Kangyin!"
"With only the tens of thousands of troops from your Fourth Army and my First Division, it's not very possible to capture Kangyin quickly!"
The colleagues of the First Division and the Fourth Army who captured Shunde a few days ago completed their rendezvous at the foot of Kangyin City. After the rendezvous, according to the rules of the Fengwu Army, Zhang Meng should serve as the commander-in-chief, but Zhang Meng also knew that although he was actually Controls the Fourth Army, but nominally he is also the deputy commander...
As the main ace of the Fengwu Army, the First Division has a special status in the Fengwu Army. What's more, this time the First Division has the largest number of troops and is the main attacker under the instruction of the General Staff. Therefore, when seeing After Ma Zhongjun respected him very much, he graciously gave up his position as commander-in-chief. ….
After listening to Ma Zhongjun's words, Zhang Meng did not speak but looked at Ma Zhongjun quietly. After the General Staff established the goal of capturing Kangyin this time.
In addition to striving for the main offensive for the Fourth Army, Zhang Meng also raised his doubts about the combat objectives to the General Staff as a participating general!
Zhang Meng's doubt is that when the logistics supplies are not sufficient and the combat time is only more than half a month, the General Staff has formulated combat goals for half of Huainan, including capturing Kangyin. Is it blind and arrogant to celebrate the success? Suspicion?
In Zhang Meng's view, the Fengwu Army used a total of more than 50,000 troops from the First Division and the Fourth Army in this battle. It is not difficult for such a large number of troops to capture other places north of Nanjiang. However, Kangyin is a strong city. It not only has With complete fortifications, the city is tall, thick and very strong.
Facing such a fortified city, the firearms advantage that the Fengwu Army is proud of will be greatly offset. It is simply unrealistic to capture this city in the short term!
Regarding Zhang Meng's doubts, the response given by the General Staff was that this was not the scope of Zhang Meng's consideration. As the deputy commander of the Fourth Army, his main responsibility now is to complete the tasks assigned by the General Staff... ················
The General Staff's statement did not satisfy Zhang Meng. As the deputy commander of the Fourth Army, he directly wrote a letter to Ye Mingsheng, explaining his thoughts and doubts to Ye Mingsheng. Seeing Zhang Meng's reluctance, Bu Rao, although for confidentiality reasons, Ye Mingsheng did not directly tell Zhang Meng the real deployment, but he also gave him hints.
Although he did not get an accurate answer, Zhang Meng, who got the hint, also realized something, so he did not continue to be reluctant, but faithfully implemented the combat plan and provided support and support for the first division, which was the main attack. !
And now I see that I have been attacking for several days in a row, but still no results have been seen.
, Zhang Meng felt that it was time to use his killer move!
Although he didn't know what the real killing move was, Zhang Meng knew that Ma Zhongjun, the main attacker, must know the specific content!
Feeling Zhang Meng's gaze, Ma Zhongjun also felt that it was time to confess. He immediately said to Zhang Meng's voice:
"Kangyin City's deputy commander Zhang Shiyu agreed to the recruitment of the Coordination Office three months ago and promised to dedicate the city when our army launches an attack on Kangyin!"
As soon as these words came out, Zhang Meng also had a flash of light. After getting Ye Mingsheng's hint, he immediately realized that the group of people from the General Staff had just made such a crazy plan to capture Kangyin in half a month, and it was probably Kangyin. There is an internal agent in Yin City, but now that he knows that the internal agent is actually a *** like the deputy general soldier, it still makes him somewhat surprised... ····
After pondering for a while, Zhang Meng said in a deep voice:
"Since General Ma has such a skill, let's use this plan to open the city gate quickly. The casualties from a strong attack are not small now!"
Hearing what Zhang Meng said, Ma Zhongjun sighed slightly and said:
"Commander Zhang, please don't be anxious. Listen to what I have to say. According to the plan, our army is indeed going to attack Kangyin. Zhang Shiyu will immediately kill the commander of Kangyin, and then open the city gate to dedicate the city. But no one expected that, Xu Zhaojie, a thief, temporarily sent Zhao Jiye over!”….
"Zhao Jiye strengthened his control over the city as soon as he arrived, adding a lot of difficulties to Zhang Shiyu's plan to dedicate the city. There is only one chance. If the attack fails, it will declare the failure of our army's combat plan, so we can only try to attack by force first. Water, let’s see if we can make Zhao Jiye relax his vigilance!”
After getting this answer, Zhang Mencai nodded silently, understanding the dilemma in Ma Zhongjun's heart.
Just when the atmosphere was somewhat silent, a messenger came over in a panic and reported to Zhang Meng:
"The commander is in trouble! Hou Zhen from the Jingchu side led 30,000 troops to attack our army's rear. At present, the enemy has captured Zhucheng... ········》
Not only did Zhang Meng's expression change when he heard the news, Ma Zhongjun also had a look of surprise on his face.
"What on earth is going on?" Zhang Meng asked anxiously to the messenger:
Facing Zhang Meng's inquiry, the ordering soldier also tried his best to explain:
"I don't know the specific situation, sir. I only know that Hou Zhen captured Zhucheng in the rear, and he is leading his troops towards Kangyin!"
Zhang Meng looked very angry when he said this. After capturing Zhucheng, he regarded the city as his logistics hub and stored a lot of food and supplies in it. In addition, he felt that Zhucheng was a safe area. Therefore, he did not leave any more soldiers and horses in Zhucheng, but only arranged more than a thousand people there.
He never expected that Jingchu would send 30,000 troops. Now that Zhucheng was captured by the Chu army, his fourth army not only faced the risk of being cut off, but also faced the depletion of food and other supplies. Zhang Meng also hated it when he thought of this. said:
"Hou Zhen, you bastard, I will take care of you when I return to Anqing!"
After listening to Zhang Meng's words, Ma Zhongjun also knew that Zhucheng was the logistics hub of the Fourth Army. Now that it was captured by the Chu army, the Fourth Army faced the risk of running out of ammunition and food. As an ally, Ma Zhongjun said without thinking too much:
"Commander Zhang, our First Division still has plenty of food and other supplies. I will ask my subordinates to deliver them to you later... "
Ma Zhongjun's words also warmed Zhang Meng's heart. After the fall of Zhucheng, his Fourth Army encountered logistical difficulties, so he did not speak politely to Ma Zhongjun and said directly:
"Thank you so much, General Ma! I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. Zhang will remember this favor!"
Ma Zhongjun waved his hand when he heard this and said:
"Commander Zhang, your words are serious. You and I are under the command of the commander-in-chief and we should share the joys and sorrows together. If our first division were in this situation today, I believe you, Commander Zhang, would also lend a helping hand. !」
"That's nature! That's nature!"
After discussing the food supplies, the two focused on the current situation. After thinking for a while, Ma Zhongjun said:
"Commander Zhang, our army has no time now, I want to take action tonight!"
Hearing Ma Zhongjun's thoughts, Zhang Meng also understood what Ma Zhongjun meant. Originally, there was no such thing as Hou Zhen, so the Fengwu Army could wait patiently for a few days, but now Hou Zhen has arrived with 30,000 Chu troops. If the Fengwu Army doesn't take action again, , then I’m afraid we really won’t be able to achieve the set combat goal!
After thinking for a while, Zhang Meng nodded heavily and said:
"General Ma, I agree with your idea. Let's start tonight..."
Zhang Tongming
