Having a firm chance of winning, and in order to train the army and command the generals, Wu Yue basically did not care about the front-line command and strategy and tactics during the war to seize Shanxi. He let Liu Kunyi, Jiang Zhongji and Li Xubin do his own business. It was only after Liu Kunyi led his army to capture Taiyuan that Wu Yue asked someone to summarize the military situation in Shanxi and check and understand it personally.

I didn't know if I didn't look at it. When I saw Wu Yue, I was shocked. The 32,000 Wu army who had been invested in two batches in Shanxi battlefields had expanded to more than 60,000 without knowing it. Among them, Liu Kun and his troops expanded the army the fastest. When they left Jiezhou, there were only more than 10,000 people. After conquering Taiyuan, Jiang Zhongji's army, with Li Hongzhang as the staff, also fiercely expanded the 13,000 army to more than 20,000. Only Li Xubin brothers who helped Liu Kun attack Taiyuan expanded their army fewer, and only added more than 3,000 troops.

Although Shanxi is rich, in an era when productivity is still very backward, it is still very difficult to support so many troops. In order to obtain money, grain, military pay and supply the army, there are obvious open and secret struggles and private competition among the three Wu troops.

In order to grab more money and food, Liu Kun's army rushed forward, despite the fatigue of the army, and drove to the three counties of Qi Taiping, despite the fatigue of the army. They forced the three major commercial cities with shamelessness. During this period, they deliberately did not divide their troops to attack Maling Pass, and Li Xubin's troops, who were responding to the north of Liaozhou to Taiyuan, rushed into the Jinzhong Plain as soon as possible.

The Li Xubin brothers were not good either. They were one step late and failed to grab the money and food from the three major commercial towns of Qi Taiping. They simply took the risk to continue northwards, attacking Yuci, which was close to Taiyuan alone, and then divided their troops to attack Shouyang first. They even violated the military taboo of too much division of troops. Although they succeeded by luck, Wu Yue was sweating for them just by reading the report.

Jiang Zhongji's army, with Li Hongzhang as the staff, was even more cruel. He went west and took over the money and grain of the Fenzhou Prefecture. He also used the excuse to prevent the Qing army from advancing west and reinforced Taiyuan. He refused to join forces with Liu Kunyi. Li Xubin attacked Taiyuan, and went east alone to seize the favorable terrain of pacifying Dingzhou and Niangzi Pass, and seized the favorable terrain of advancing to Zhili early.

After reading this report, Wu Yue was of course a little angry. He was very dissatisfied with the fact that these powerful generals ignored the overall situation, went selfishly and greedy for merit. At the same time, he was extremely glad that the Qing army in Shanxi was weak, and the Qing court also gave priority to protect Zhili and Shandong, and did not strongly reinforce Shanxi. Therefore, Liu Kunyi, Jiang Zhongji and others did not encounter any major danger.

After being dissatisfied, Wu Yue had no intention of accuseing Liu Kunyi and others. First, because Wu Yue had already given power before the war and allowed Liu Kunyi, Jiang Zhongji and Li Xubin to do their own things. Now he scolded him would be a master. Second, from the perspective of the superiors, Wu Yue was more willing to see Liu Kunyi and Li Hongzhang compete with each other and disagree with each other, and was unwilling to see them hook up in Shanxi to become traitors.

Third, these three Wu troops in Shanxi are actually second-line troops. The equipment of ordinary soldiers is backward, and the weapons and ammunition of elite warriors need to rely on Wu Yue’s supply. Wu Yue is neither afraid that they will be severely injured nor afraid that they will break away from their own control and become uncontrollable warlords. - Wu Yue’s trusted brother-in-law Nie Shichengke has been staying in Luoyang, and has also controlled the Wu army troops in Jiezhou and other places. He can lead the elite Wu army armed to the teeth to teach traitors to be human.

After carefully understanding the current money, grain and tax situation in Shanxi, Wu Yue naturally began to think about this possibility in his mind - can the Shanxi Wu army take on the heavy responsibility of attacking the capital of Zhili alone while letting Zeng Guoquan's army restrain the main force of Shandong Qing army?

The calculation result is that it is difficult and hope is not small. The main force of the Qing cavalry has been destroyed by Sheng Bao. The Wu army in Shanxi entered the North China Plain east, and the issue of logistics and food routes is not very dangerous. At present, the only army that the Qing court has achieved is actually the Shandong New Army formed by Luo Bingzhang. As long as the Zeng Guoquan army goes to Daming Prefecture to advance to Jinan east, it will be enough to restrain Luo Bingzhang's army in Shandong, so that the Wu army in Shanxi can attack the capital of Zhili with all its strength. If Wu Yue sends the Wu cavalry under Nie Shicheng to Shandong and helps Zeng Guoquan deal with the Shandong New Army, there is still a great hope that the two battlefields will win at the same time and directly kill the Shandong New Army that is fighting with the Lizhi rifle.

What's even better is that it is Mid-Autumn Festival and the autumn harvest is coming. The local money and grain from Shanxi and Henan can fully support the Wu army to launch another large-scale attack. At the same time, without the burden of grain, Wu Yue, who holds two major grain-producing lands in Sichuan, Huguang, has the ability to do a loss-making business, and travel 6 routes to the northern frontline to deliver grain.

After making this idea, Wu Yue immediately led the Wu army's decision-making team to study the specific combat plan. As a result, during the discussion, Dai Wenjie put forward another tactical suggestion and said: "Master, why can't we imitate foreigners and Changmao sent a troops from the sea to disrupt the throat of the party's capital? Now the navy of the party's rebellion has been wiped out, and the Far East Fleet of the Rakshasa people was also severely damaged. We sent troops from the sea, and there was no threat on the road. If the three northern expeditions are in the north, we will have much greater confidence in winning?"

"Our navy must be wary of the long hair blocking the Yangtze River waterway." Wu Yue said in a silence: "If such a situation really happens, our navy must be responsible for clearing the waterway and cannot move lightly at will."

The speaker was unintentional, and the listener was intentional. When Zhao Liewen heard what Wu Yue said, he was moved and said hurriedly: "Weiting, do we have to spend more effort to soothe Changmao? Continue to stabilize them with all our strength. Otherwise, during our Northern Expedition, if Changmao was worried about his lips and teeth, we would have to make trouble deliberately. Maybe we would have to start a war on both sides and fall into a passive position."

"Of course I have considered this." Wu Yue replied: "The news that Zhang Dejian found was that Yang Xiuqing has been very fond of a long-haired man named Meng Deen recently, and almost obeyed the rules. I plan to send an envoy to the capital to buy him in the name of Tonghao, and Yang Xiuqing's younger brothers, so that they can try their best to convince Yang Xiuqing not to do anything wrong. Yang Xiuqing's anti-Qing stance has always been firm. With their help to persuade him, it should be no big problem to stabilize Yang Xiuqing for the time being."

While speaking confidently, a personal soldier suddenly came to report outside the door, saying that Yang Xiuqing sent Hong Renyu to visit him for the envoy. Wu Yue, who was planning to continue to stabilize the Taiping Army, did not hesitate. He immediately handed over the plan to send troops to Zhao Liewen and others to continue to discuss and study, and personally came to meet Hong Renyu, who was also trusted by Yang Xiuqing.

Hong Renyu's purpose was very simple. He wanted to ask Wu Yue to sell a batch of grain to the Taiping Army at a preferential price to help the Taiping Army in the Huaihe River Basin, which was plagued by locusts this year, solve the problem of grain shortage. Seeing that the amount of grain Taiping Army asked not to buy was not too large, Wu Yue agreed to do so at the same time, and also voluntarily agreed to send grain to Nanjing through the Yangtze River channel to reduce the burden of transporting grain for the Taiping Army.

"Thank you, Marshal Wu." Hong Renyi quickly thanked him, but did not rush to say goodbye and leave. He said: "Marrior Wu, the little envoy has another purpose here, which is to visit Hankou and visit a few foreign friends I met in Hong Kong. I hope the little envoy will stay in Wuchang for several days, disturb this place, and I hope to forgive my sins."

When Wu Yue heard this, he laughed and said, "When did Mr. Qianyi become so polite? As long as you like it, what would I say when I lived in Wuchang for a year or two? Is there any need to ask?"

Hong Renyi quickly thanked again, and then said goodbye. However, after sending Hong Renyi away with a smile, Wu Yue, who was suspicious, felt something was wrong and said to me: "No? Is this kind of small thing to do in Hankou, Wuchang for a few days, so I have to make it in front of me? Is Hong Renyi's request intentionally or unintentionally?"

Suspicion, out of caution, Wu Yue of course sent someone to send an order to Zhang Dejian, the chief of the Wu army's spy, asking Zhang Dejian to send his spies to secretly monitor Hong Renqiu to see if he had any abnormal actions in Wuchang and Hankou.

The result of Wu Yue and Zhao Liewen and others discussing the advancing to Zhili was that they only had to worry about the seasonal issues. Although the Wu army in Shanxi supplemented a large number of northern soldiers, the main combat soldiers were still mainly southerners. In the autumn and winter, they were easily affected by climate and temperature - this is also the most critical reason for the difficulties in the Northern Expedition since ancient times.

Fortunately, the times have changed. After entering the steam engine era, the cost price of cotton and linen textiles has long dropped. Western powers are eager to find a place to dump industrial products. Wu Jun had previously stocked up a large number of cotton and linen textiles for emergency use, so after making up his mind, Wu Yue just ordered the garment factory to start production of cotton coats and then send them to the front line.

Then, Wu Yue, Zhao Liewen and others reported in advance that when the Wu army was fully preparing for the Northern Expedition, the news came from the capital that the Qing court sent Jing Shou to the south to negotiate. After hearing the report, Wu Yue sneered and made up his mind early to make a fuss with the Qing court, and then acted at the opportunity. However, at this moment, the chief of the Wu army's spy chief Zhang Dejian suddenly came to Wu Yue and reported to Wu Yue about monitoring Hong Ren's movements.

"Master General, Hong Renqi has been asking around about the peace talks between us and the Beijing rioters." Zhang Dejian reported: "Not only did he personally come forward to inquire with the foreign priests, he also used the long-haired lying lurking in Hankou to collect relevant information. In addition, he tried to contact our hotel officials, as if the purpose was to inquire about the news."

Zhang Dejian's report did not make Wu Yue care about it at first, but after careful consideration, Wu Yue immediately became suspicious and said, "Strange, we just confirmed the news that the Beijing rioters were preparing to negotiate with us today. Why did Hong Renyi come to Wuchang the day before yesterday to start inquire about the relevant news? Can their intelligence system be more efficient than us?"

"I also think this matter is a bit strange." Zhang Dejian said: "Although Jiangning is close to the sea and the amount of information conveyed on the water is faster than Route 6, we know that the news that the Beijing rioters are preparing to negotiate with us was also sent by our intelligence station in Shanghai, and they are also on the water route. Why is Changmao's news so much faster than ours?"

After thinking about it, Wu Yue quickly asked again: "How did we find out the news that the Beijing Rebellion Party was preparing to negotiate with us at our intelligence station in Shanghai?"

"It was the people from the Beijing Rebellion Party in the Concession who took the initiative to tell us." Zhang Dejian replied truthfully: "The subordinates speculate that the Beijing Rebellion Party probably wants us to make this matter first so that their peace talks can contact us."

Wu Yue became more suspicious because Wu Yue knew very well that since the Qing court intended to let him know the news that they were preparing for peace talks, the faster the better. Even if the efficiency of work is not high enough, such a big thing will not be delayed for too long. The intelligence system of the Taiping Army would never be able to penetrate the tentacles into the Qing court. At most, it would be possible to inquire about the news among the people in the capital. It would be limited by means of transportation and the investigation and search of the Qing army in Zhili. How could it be faster than the Qing court that directly leaked to its own army?

Although the matter seemed not big, it was a big question of whether the rear was stable during the Northern Expedition of Wu's army. So after repeated calculations, Wu Yue decided to ask Hong Renyu directly and immediately sent someone to call Hong Renyu in front of him, and directly told Hong Renyu about the situation where the Qing court was preparing to negotiate with him, and then carefully Hong Renyu's reaction.

After Wu Yue was reported to him, after learning the shocking news that the Qing court planned to negotiate with Wu Yue, Hong Renyu did not act too surprised. He seemed to have known the situation for a long time. He couldn't wait to ask Wu Yue: "Master, what are you going to do? Are you planning to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty court?"

"Qianyi, we have been old friends for many years." Wu Yue stared at Hong Renyu and asked, "There is one thing I hope you can tell the truth. Why do you seem to have known that the Beijing rioters are planning to talk to me?"

"This..." Hong Renyi was still as good as before and said in a panic: "Mr. Wu, what do I have..."

"You can't hide it from me." Wu Yue shook his head and interrupted Hong Renyu, saying in a deep voice: "You have been in Wuchang and Hankou these two days, and this is what you specifically inquired about. Also, you asked me in person before to let you stay in Hankou for a few days. The real purpose should be to deceive me into being relieved and not be careful of you?"

Speaking of this, Wu Yue smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Qianyi, you are not a spy. It would be fine if you didn't say this. I definitely won't care how you are playing in Hankou, Wuchang. Your extra words made me suspicious and sent someone to secretly monitor you."

Seeing that the agency was revealed, Hong Renyu had no choice but to smile bitterly and nodded, saying, "Pretending to be smart in front of the general is really the biggest mistake in my life. It was like this last time in Shanghai, and this time in Wuchang. It's the same. It's not bad, I learned the news in advance."

"How did you know?" Wu Yue asked quickly.

"Longsui Dongwang told me." Hong Renyu replied: "Longsui Dongwang sent me to Hankou. Buying grain to save the wasteland is just a guise. The real purpose is to let me inquire about your negotiations with the Qing Yao court."

"How did Yang Xiuqing know this news?" Wu Yue asked again quickly.

"I heard that we found out about it in the capital." Hong Renyi answered truthfully, adding: "At that time, I also said that the Qing Dynasty Demon Court was a fool. With the current power and strength of Marshal Wu, how could he agree to a peace talk with the Qing Dynasty Demon Court? Even if Marshal, you really negotiate with the Qing Dynasty Demon Court, at most it would be a false conspiracy. Maybe you would take the opportunity to get a trap and use a trick to get the Qing Dynasty Demon Court."

"What did Yang Xiuqing say?" Wu Yue asked again.

"Long live the Eastern King said that he must be guarded against others. I must come to Wuchang to investigate the situation." Hong Renyu replied honestly: "I also said that as long as you find the Grand Marshal, you must report him immediately, and protest to you immediately, asking you to stop negotiating with the Qing Dynasty court. Otherwise, we will consider eliminating the alliance and blocking the Yangtze River Channel to retaliate against you."

Yang Xiuqing's revenge was not beyond Wu Yue's expectations. However, it was strange that Yang Xiuqing learned the news in the capital and the confident methods of his elder niece, Wu Yue couldn't help but deduce a possibility that he felt incredible - Yang Xiuqing was working with the Qing court, preparing to take the charge of betraying the alliance treaty on himself, and then legitimately blocking the Yangtze River Channel.

Then, Wu Yue also found that if he was trapped, he would be completely in a dilemma. Refusing to discuss peace talks revealed his true face of rebellion, which may lead to internal changes. If he agreed to the peace talks, he offended the Taiping Army, giving Yang Xiuqing a legitimate excuse to block the Yangtze River channel and dragging himself into the dilemma of going to war on both sides.
Chapter completed!