The placement of the demoted generals in the Baoxiang Army was initially arranged into four levels of staff positions: first, second and third ranks in the staff office and senior staff officers.
However, as the staff system of the Staff Office was gradually improved, the position of first, second and third-class staff officers became a formal position in the Baoxiang Army, and it was also quite important.
Therefore, the staff position cannot be used as a false title indiscriminately.
For this reason, Luo Zhixue established a consulting system to arrange for the demoted generals.
Basically, guerrillas, generals, generals, and guards are all mid-level generals in the Ming army system. The Baoxiang Army will award the first-class and second-class staff officers respectively based on the original duties of the demoted generals, the number of troops they lead, and the rank of their officers. etc., third-class military advisor, etc. shall be held in fictitious positions and shall be matched with corresponding personal remuneration.
As for the general, deputy general and deputy general, these senior military generals, that is, people like Chen Yongfu, were appointed as special military advisers to the General Staff Office.
In addition to military advisors, Luo Zhixue also established a civilian advisory system. Unfortunately, Luo Zhixue has not captured any civilian prisoners yet, not even a ninth-grade civilian. Therefore, the civilian advisory system , for the time being it is still in name only, there is no one.
This has to be said to be a pity!
Chen Yongfu still couldn't figure out for a while what kind of position this special military adviser was. After all, he had never heard of such a thing. But he also knew that this was not the time to care about the position, but a look of joy. Agree.
Immediately afterwards, Chen Yongfu, who was a special military adviser, began to perform what he considered to be his duty: making suggestions for the Hometown Protection Army.
He very carefully advised Luo Zhixue: "We should send troops as soon as possible to capture and control the two strategic locations of Luyang Pass and Yuzhou to ensure the security of the north."
"It won't take long, I'm afraid Governor Hong...Hong Chengchou will know the news of my defeat. When Hong Chengchou knows the news, even if the war situation in the Central Plains is tense, he will not ignore the safety of Nanyang Mansion and will definitely send troops south."
"And if we want to stop the large-scale main force of officers and soldiers from going south, the best way is to occupy Luyang Pass and Yuzhou."
"As long as Luyang Pass is defended, it is equivalent to cutting off the Yalu Sanguan Ancient Road; as long as Yuzhou can be captured and defended, then the Fangcheng Ancient Road can be cut off."
"As long as we can cut off these two channels connecting the north and the south, it will be impossible for the main force of officers and soldiers under Hong Chengchou to go south quickly. They will detour to Tongbai Mountain and take the trail into Nanyang Mansion, or they will attack Lu Yangguan or Fangcheng Ancient Road!”
"No matter which one it is, it is enough to buy us more time."
When Chen Yongfu uses words, he has unconsciously used us.
Although he had just surrendered to the thieves, he knew very well that once he surrendered to the thieves, there would be no way out.
The imperial court may tolerate a defeated general, but it will never tolerate a general who surrenders to thieves.
If the Baoxiang Army is later defeated by officers and soldiers, then Chen Yongfu's fate may not be worse than that of Luo Zhixue, the rebel leader.
Therefore, from the moment he decided to join the bandits, he had already changed his mentality.
He was more unwilling to see the defeat of the rural protection army than Wang Xiazi, Huang Dingquan and other rebel generals.
After hearing what Chen Yongfu said, Luo Zhixue turned his attention to Chen Yongfu.
At this time, Blind Wang also spoke: "Consultant Chen, why can you conclude that Hong Chengchou will definitely send troops south?"
"Now we have not attacked Nanyang City, nor have we captured Nanzhao County. We are just moving around in the countryside. Logically speaking, we will not attract much attention from the officers and soldiers!"
"There are so many bandits in all parts of the Central Plains. There are countless bandits larger than us. We are only a few thousand people. Even if we win a game, it will not be enough for Hong Chengchou to put down the large-scale bandits from all over the Central Plains and mobilize them." The main force will deal with us, right?"
Luo Zhixue also showed his intention to inquire.
At this time, Chen Yongfu showed a hint of embarrassment, but he did not mean to hide it, but directly told the whole story: "Actually, I have written to Xuan Mo and Hong Chengchou many times before, informing us of the Baoxiang Army. A lot of information, that...the wording in the letter may be a bit exaggerated, portraying our rural protection army as the elite of the elite rebels..."
"In the past, they all regarded what I said as an exaggeration. They thought I was being passive and making excuses for not wanting to go to the Lu family, so they didn't believe me."
"However, before I led my army to the north and the whole army was wiped out... They would never think that I would rather lose thousands of troops, and even the whole army was wiped out just to show them."
Just like what Chen Yongfu said, he had reported the situation of the rural protection army to Xuan Mo, Hong Chengchou and other superior officials many times in the past half month.
At that time, in order to delay time, the situation of the Baoxiang Army was slightly exaggerated.
But I didn't expect that after he said this too much, neither Xuanmo nor Hong Chengchou believed what he said, and immediately concluded that Chen Yongfu wanted to be passive and idle in the war, and finally forced him to end the Nanyang war quickly, and then Ma He quickly rushed to Lu's house.
As a result, Chen Yongfu really went north, and then the entire army was destroyed...
The news that Chen Yongfu's entire army had been wiped out would probably spread to surrounding areas and reach the ears of Hong Chengchou and others within a few days.
By then, Hong Chengchou would know that Chen Yongfu was really not acting. Even though his previous description of the Baoxiang Army was exaggerated, it was not too far off.
Under such circumstances, what would Hong Chengchou think?
As long as Hong Chengchou is not stupid, he will send the main force of the Ming army south to Nanyang Mansion!
Whether it was to encircle and suppress the Xiangbao Army, to defend Nanyang Mansion, or simply to confirm whether Chen Yongfu's entire army was really wiped out and whether the Xiangbao Army was really that powerful.
For many reasons, Hong Chengchou would send troops south.
And this time point will not be too late.
And is Hong Chengchou stupid?
He is not stupid!
After listening to Chen Yongfu's words, Luo Zhixue pondered for a moment and said, "According to this, Yunyang Governor Lu Xiangsheng will also know the news. In your opinion, will he send troops north to Nanyang Mansion?"
Hearing that Luo Zhixue suddenly turned the topic to Lu Xiangsheng, Chen Yongfu was stunned for a moment, but he quickly replied: "There is a possibility. Lu Xiangsheng is just the governor of Yunyang, and his defense area is in Yunyang Mansion to the south of us. Xiangyang and other places, once the news reaches Yunyang, he will definitely react."
"In addition, there is news that the imperial court is preparing to appoint Lu Xiangsheng as governor of Huguang to prevent the rebels from Jiangbei area from rushing westward into Chubei."
"If Hong Chengchou gave him an order to enter Nanyang Mansion, he would definitely send troops to go north. But if Hong Chengchou didn't give him an order, it's hard to say whether he would send troops to go north. After all, he needs to be the governor of Yunyang and Chubei and other places. It is possible to send troops rashly. As a result, Chubei was empty, and other Jiangbei rebels took advantage of it!"
After hearing Chen Yongfu's words, Luo Zhixue became thoughtful again.
Lu Xiangsheng is about to take up the post of governor of Huguang?
This is the first time Luo Zhixue has heard of this news. In the past, the sources of information for the Baoxiang Army were public information, but for some rumors among the top brass of the Ming Dynasty, there was still a lack of channels for gossip.
Only people like Chen Yongfu, who was originally a senior general in the Ming army, could know some gossip about the movements of senior officials of the Ming Dynasty.
The news that Lu Xiangsheng is about to take over as governor of Huguang is very important.
Because the next goal of the Baoxiang Army in the year after they captured Nanyang Prefecture was to attack Xiangyang Prefecture in order to control the entire Nanyang Basin, and then they wanted to capture the Jianghan Plain, which was still Lu Xiangsheng's defense area.
In other words, it is very likely that the Baoxiang Army will directly confront Lu Xiangsheng in the near future.
Luo Zhixue began to think deeply, and after a while he walked to the table again and looked at the map.
Seeing Luo Zhixue's appearance, the other generals in the headquarters couldn't help but stop talking, for fear of disturbing Luo Zhixue's thinking.
After a while, Luo Zhixue asked again: "Advisor Chen, how many defense forces are there in Nanyang City and Xiangyang City now?"
Chen Yongfu said: "I have taken away all the main forces in Nanyang City. Now there are only at most two thousand guardsmen in the city, and there are also about two thousand young people and other auxiliary forces in the city."
"As for Xiangyang City, as far as I know there are at least 8,000 officers and soldiers, most of whom are soldiers from the Huguang local guard. Lu Xiangsheng's headquarters is not in Xiangyang, but in Yunyang."
After hearing this, Luo Zhixue once again stared at the map and pondered for a moment, then asked: "If you pretend to be a defeated army, can you deceive the gate of Xiangyang City? Then welcome the army to seize the city?"
Suddenly hearing what Luo Zhixue said, Chen Yongfu was stunned again. He just felt that Luo Zhixue's thinking was a little off-topic and he couldn't keep up.
The first one was talking about Hong Chengchou, the second one was talking about Lu Xiangsheng, and then Lu Xiangsheng was talking about Xiangyang Prefecture. In just a few words, he asked if he could deceive the gate of Xiangyang City into opening.
How do I know if I can deceive the Xiangyang City defenders...
I am not a defender in Xiangyang City, so I know what they think.
But now that Luo Zhixue has arrived, other hopes have arisen in Chen Yongfu's heart.
If, if I can really deceive the gates of Xiangyang City, and then lead the Baoxiang Army to capture the strategic location of Xiangyang City, I will have a great contribution. If I look back, I will definitely make myself a leader in the Baoxiang Army system. It's better to mix in.
Thinking of this, Chen Yongfu immediately said: "As long as the plan is proper, my subordinates are still relatively confident in deceiving the gate of Xiangyang City. Even if the army cannot enter the city directly, it is not a problem to sneak in dozens of people. As long as a few people are sneaked in, Ten people can create chaos and lay the foundation for the subsequent capture of the city gate."
"If that doesn't work, we can also directly send people to disguise themselves as caravans, and ordinary people will sneak in one after another and then cause chaos."
"There has been no rebel attack in Xiangyang for a long time. The vigilance of local officers and soldiers is relatively low. As long as the plan is proper, there is still a relatively high degree of confidence in deceiving the city gate."
"But we have to move quickly. We cannot let them know the news about the Zhaozhuang battle in advance. At the same time, our army must move very quickly when it attacks Xiangyang later. We must seize the city gate before the officers and soldiers of the brigade can react."
After Chen Yongfu finished speaking, Luo Zhixue nodded slightly, but did not continue to ask Chen Yongfu. Instead, he turned back and continued to meditate on the map, and from time to time he would draw a few strokes on it with a pen.
Occasionally, he turned around and whispered a few words to An Yongduo, Wang Xiazi and others.
The whole scene made Chen Yongfu look a little weird.
Then he thought: Is this Luo Zhixue really planning to run over and attack Xiangyang now?
