Chapter 18 Blood Sacrifice (Part 2)

Even if Ding Dexing was arrogant, he would not dare to compare himself to Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun. Hearing that Zhang Yi even scolded Chen Shou in order to praise him, a warm feeling surged in his heart. He could not say anything extra, and followed the other party, holding his head up and walking in.

When he arrived in the meeting hall, he realized that the guy named Yu was not completely perfunctory to him. Not only the chief and deputy commander of the Fifth Army, but also the chief generals of other armies, such as Hu Dahai, Xu Da, Liu Ziyun, etc., were present, including Mr. Su, who was firmly in the second place in the Huaiyang clan, was sitting next to the same oval table as everyone, with red eyes, as if a hungry beast was about to choose people and eat them.

Seeing this scene, Ding Dexing immediately knew that he was not qualified to attend. He took the initiative to stop and bow to Zhu Chongjiu Shen, saying loudly: "The late Ding Dexing, the commander of the personal army under the tent of the army, came to serve with the order. He did not know that the chief general was promoting the tent and discussing matters. He rashly broke in and was unforgivable. Rong Mo will retreat outside the door for the time being and come back to receive the chief general punishment later."

"You report to the Grand Chief Executive, and General Ding has something to ask for advice. Yi felt that he was not an outsider, so he led him in. If you are reckless, please forgive me." Zhang Yi was very anxious and quickly explained.

"Well, what is Zhang joining the army?" Zhu Chongjiu was slightly stunned, and then he understood the other party's good intentions from Zhang Yi's anxious gaze. He smiled and chased forward, and grabbed Ding Dexing's arm from behind. "Where is General Ding going? Since he has come, hurry up and find a place to sit down. The next thing is to rely on your Heiding's courage."

"The last general, the last general is here, how good, how good? Alas, since the general is not afraid of being vulgar, the last general is sitting. In the future, no matter where he is useful, he will never dare to refuse." Ding Dexing struggled a few times, but he was not as strong as Zhu Chongjiu, so he had to push and half-push to the table and sit half-stop on the empty chair at the lower end.

"You two are sitting too." Zhu Chongjiu waved his arms at Yu Tonghai and Zhou Jun casually, turned back to the position of the head coach of the top leader, "Chen Shanjun, you roughly introduce the current situation to the three of them again."

The last sentence was directed by Chen Ji, who immediately stood up and agreed to "Yes." Then, he strided to the map on the wall, pointed to the position below with a wooden stick, and said, "According to the emergency military report I received last night, Dong Zhe Tuanxiao, with the assistance of the pirate Fang Guozhen, avoided the defense line of our Huai'an First Navy Division, and landed at the Old River mouth 60 miles west of Tongzhou. Then, he captured Taixing. Now the enemy is advancing on the water and land toward Taizhou. General Wu Yongchun has led four brigades of the Fourth Army to fight, but the enemy is large and we are few. The pirates under Fang Guozhen are proficient in water wars, and the situation is very urgent."

"Boom." Ding Dexing immediately felt dizzy as if a shell exploded in his mind.

In order to block the 300,000 tigers and wolves under Tutu, most of the Huai'an army's forces were concentrated on the northern line, and more than half of the navy's warships were drawn. At this moment, the only one who stayed on the Yangzhou Road was the Fourth Army led by Wu Yongchun. From Yangzhou to Haimen, there were five cities and more than 400 miles of defense. Even if Wu Yongchun had three heads and six arms, he was still a clever woman who could not cook without rice.

Once Yangzhou is lost, the Huai'an army will be attacked from both sides, and the supply of food and weapons will be cut off. If you want to get out of the predicament, there is only one way to choose. Give up the Huanghuai defense line and return to the south quickly. Before Tuotuo makes a correct response, you will defeat Dong Tuoxiao, and then turn around to face Tuotuo, hoping that God will bring new miracles.

Just as he was shocked, he heard Chen Ji's loud introduction, "According to the emergency plan made by our army, once the water defense line is broken by Dong Zhe, the first fleet of the Navy will retreat to Yangzhou and one of the Fourth Army will die in Baojiangwan. The other units of the Fourth Army will decide to give up those cities and exchange space for time based on the actual situation. According to this plan, if the war under Taizhou City is not good for our army, at least half a month later, Commander Wu will lead all the troops and horses to retreat to Yangzhou City, and use Yangzhou and Jiangwan New City as mutual support to make the final deal with Dong Tuanxiao."

"Hiss,." Unconsciously, Ding Dexing put his palm on his mouth, biting and sucking air conditioners. The Huai'an army was prepared for this bad situation, and it was definitely better than not being prepared. However, with the help of Yangzhou and Jiangwan New City, they were already at an absolute disadvantage. At most, they could ensure that the food and supplies in Yangzhou and the workshops in Jiangwan New City would not fall into the hands of Dong Zhe, but they could no longer transport supplies to the northern line along the canal. Once the news spreads, the morale attack on the entire East Road Red Turban Army would be very fatal. At least, Zhao Junyong and others would find enough excuses to attack immediately, and provoke internal disputes when the enemy was in front of them.

"So, our army's response plan is to compete with Tuotuo for tooth, and to compete with Tuotuo for quick action. Before the Fourth Army retreated to Yangzhou, it will take the initiative to break the deadlock and disrupt Tuotuo's proud deployment." After joining the army for so long, Chen Ji has been tempered and has not been disturbed by the noise from Ding Dexing at all. He paused and continued to introduce loudly.

‘Break the deadlock,’ Ding Dexing was surprised when he heard it, but he did not dare to ask. He widened his big eyes and asked for advice.

In the past, he had participated in many military discussions under the Sesame Li tent, but every time everyone was in chaos and had never been as orderly as the Huai'an Army.

Fortunately, everyone didn't ask him to wait for a long time. Soon, Zhu Chongjiu took over the leadership of the meeting, stood up, and asked Zhou Jun who had just entered with him, "Capital Commander Zhou, how many brothers in your camp who can't see things at night are left."

"This" Zhou Jun was stunned by the question, then he rose up and reported with his chest out, "Report to the Grand Chief Executive, the 2nd Battalion of the Third Regiment of the Third Brigade of the Fifth Army, he has been following the instructions from the above in the past few months and eating fish and wild vegetables for his brothers. There are only fifty-three people left. Other brothers will not have any problem walking at night." (Note 1)

"The situation in other battalions is similar." Wu Liangmou, commander of the Fifth Army, looked as proud as battalion commander Zhou Jun, nodded and quickly added next to him. "What our army has always focused on strengthening is firearms and night attacks. Each battalion will gather at night and go out for training. The food is mainly salted fish and wild vegetables according to the proposal of the chief executive."

"Hehehe" After hearing his words, many generals would laugh.

Each army has its own unique skills and is good at night fighting. It is indeed a major expertise of the Fifth Army. Who made the commander of this army famous by drilling drainage ditches at night? The old business cannot lose it, but adding a large amount of wild vegetables and salted fish to the food is not the characteristic of the Fifth Army. Since last year, when I accepted the 600,000 hungry people in Yangzhou City, the Huai'an Army has formed a tradition of eating sea fish and wild vegetables in order to save food. Now it is late summer and early autumn. If the sea fish are not pickled from the shore first and then sent it over, will the brothers still eat stinky fish every day?

"Our Fifth Army ate more salted fish, and we eat for the purpose of treating eye diseases for the brothers, rather than simply saving military rations." The Fifth Army Chief Shi Lu Deshan was so embarrassed that he took the initiative to ask for help in solving Wu Liang's siege.

"Hahaha" several other commanders chuckled and shook their heads, all of whom Wu Liangmou and Lu Deshan brag about it, but after laughing, the tension in the meeting hall immediately eased a lot.

"Yu Tonghai, you were born in Jiaoxi before, are you still familiar with the terrain there?" He gently pressed his hand down, and Zhu Chongjiu quickly brought the conversation back to the main topic.

"The last general, the last general, was indeed born in Jiaoxi. My father, who worked as Daluhuachi of the Jiaozhou Water Army Ten Thousand Household Institute. Later, he provoked the emperor and was stripped of his post and ran to Chaohu to be a water bandit." Yu Tonghai stood up with a red face and explained in a low voice.

He was originally a descendant of the Boyawu clan of Yuli on the grassland. His grandfather had been the prince of Wuping and an authentic Mongolian nobleman. Unexpectedly, his father's generation had become a remnant of Yan Timur. He was demoted to the name of Jiaozhou in Shandong Road, which was a naughty naval army. A few years later, he was further investigated, deprived of his surname, and demoted him to become a registered householder next to Hongze Lake. The family suffered humiliation from local governments.

So after Zhu Chongjiu conquered Huai'an, Yu Tonghai and his son simply made up their minds and threw themselves into the Red Troop. Soon after, they were both selected into the Guards regiment because of their extraordinary martial arts skills and served as battalion commander and company commander.

This resume, including the experience of becoming a Mongolian but becoming a inferior slave, has always regarded it as a great humiliation, so it is rarely mentioned in front of others. Today, Zhu Chongjiu suddenly asked him out of his own way, and he was embarrassed and embarrassed.

However, Zhu Chongjiu called him in to participate in the military convention today, but he nodded and smiled and comforted, "Don't be nervous, your father and son's performance on the battlefield in the past is obvious to all. As long as you are in the same mind as everyone, no one will treat you as an outsider."

"Thank you, thank you for your kindness." Yu Tonghai's eyes suddenly turned red, he raised his hands and stammered, "I am willing to crush you to pieces for the Great Manager."

"There is indeed a task to you right away, but it is not to let you break into pieces." Zhu Chongjiu smiled and nodded slightly. "According to the information department, King Yi has personally led his troops to fight. He is confronting General Wang Xuan in Zhucheng area. There are tens of thousands of households and thousands of households behind him. Therefore, the General Staff Headquarters proposes to use a partial army to penetrate Jiaoxi from the sea to cut off the retreat route of King Yi, and then attack Wang Xuan from the front and back, surround this person, and force Tuotuo to divide his troops to rescue him. Yu Tonghai, you are willing to lead the army." (Note 2)

Note 1: The blindfolded bird is night blindness. In ancient times, night blindness was very common due to malnutrition.

Note 2: In the official history, Mao Gui, the general of the Red Turban, went straight to Jiaozhou from Haizhou on the Yangtze River, and then defeated the local defenders one after another at lightning speed, and then captured the entire Shandong Peninsula.
Chapter completed!